An early lead with their ace on the mound wasn’t enough for the Giants to beat the Padres.
Casey Schmitt clubbed his second home run in as many games, and San Francisco built on that early advantage, but Logan Webb allowed it all back and more in a 10-5 loss Tuesday night at Oracle Park.
Webb was responsible for six of San Diego’s runs, including a five-spot in the fourth inning that turned the game in the Padres’ favor after the Giants jumped ahead 4-1 after two.
He didn’t return for the fifth, his shortest start of the year — only his 11th time in 140 starts since the start of 2022 going four innings or less. Manager Tony Vitello said knee discomfort was the reason Webb departed after only 62 pitches.
It put a damper on a night to remember for rookie catcher Jesus Rodriguez, who followed his first major-league hit and RBI in the second with a solo shot to right for his first career homer in the seventh.
San Diego brought nine men to the plate in the fourth. Only one run was in when Webb recorded the second out of the inning, but he allowed the next four Padres to reach.
Sung-Mun Song delivered the biggest hit of the inning — and the first of his MLB career — with a bases-clearing double that split Heliot Ramos in left and Drew Gilbert in center.
The six earned runs on Webb’s line were one away from a career high, raising his ERA to 5.06. It’s the highest mark he has carried this late into a season since 2021.
He had never allowed five runs in one inning at home before this season, but it has happened twice this year.
The Yankees also pounced on him for five runs in the second on their way to a 7-0 Opening Day win.
What it means
The Giants hit multiple home runs for only the fifth time this season, fewer than any team besides the Red Sox.
They had been unbeaten in those games but fell to 4-1 — 11-4 when getting any homers at all.
Who’s hot
Schmitt’s two-run shot stayed fair down the left field line for his team-best sixth home run of the season — his fourth in his past 10 games.
He has also hit safely in all but one of those games and now leads San Francisco in most offensive categories.
Meanwhile, Rafael Devers extended his hitting streak to a season-long six games with an opposite-field single. He stuck in the three-hole while Vitello slotted their other struggling veterans, Willy Adames and Matt Chapman, below rookie Bryce Eldridge in the lineup.
Jackson Merrill has been a thorn in the Giants’ side so far this series with five hits in nine ABs.
Who’s not
Adames struck out in his 15th consecutive game, matching the third-longest streak of his career.
While he singled and scored on Rodriguez’s knock in the third, it was just his seventh hit in 63 at-bats (.111 BA) since his last game without a strikeout.
Chapman came up empty in four tries and is now hitless in his past 21 at-bats.
Fernando Tatis Jr. moved down to fifth in the Padres order, the lowest he has batted since 2019, as his homerless drought to begin the season extended to 148 plate appearances with a 1-for-5 performance.
Tatis shot a double into right field and scored in San Diego’s big fourth inning, but he went down swinging against J.T. Brubaker with two on and nobody out his next time up.
Up next
RHP Adrian Houser (0-3, 7.12 ERA) gets the ball in the rubber match against RHP Matt Waldron (0-1, 9.88 ERA). First pitch is set for 12:45 p.m.
