Bullpen ruins Webb’s gem in SF Giants’ 2-0 loss to Reds

Logan Webb threw seven shutout innings in a pitchers duel. But Hunter Greene went 8 2⁄3 and a wild Giants bullpen cost the Giants a win

The San Francisco Giants got a great outing from Logan Webb Monday night. But the Cincinnati Reds got a longer outing from Hunter Greene, who shut down the boys in orange until a wild Giants bullpen lost them the game in the 8th.

The Giants only occasionally threatened against Greene, who threw 8 ²⁄₃ shutout innings, striking out seven and yielding only four hits and a walk — one of each coming to the final two batters he faced in the ninth inning. But with the tying run on first, Heliot Ramos hit a 106.9 MPH rope off of Reds closer Tony Santillan that went straight into left fielder Jaboc Hurtubise’s glove, and the Giants got their second loss of the season.

Cincinnati broke through against a wild Camilo Doval, who entered a 0-0 game in the eighth inning and simply could not throw his slider over the plate. Doval walked Spencer Steer on six pitches then drilled Hurtubise, though that one was a wild cutter. He threw two sliders well out of the strike zone to catcher Jose Trevino, who was trying to sacrifice, and finally did successfully.

Erik Miller didn’t have much more success. He came in and walked TJ Friedl on four pitches. Then rookie Blake Dunn hit just the second extra-base hit of his career, doubling to right and scoring two Reds for the only runs of the game.

That was all the Reds needed in another game where the Giants saw Webb on the mound and decided they didn’t need their bats. It’s the second Webb start in a row where his teammates got only four hits, though perhaps they were spoiled by winning the previous one.

The Giants got their first base runner when Matt Chapman reached first after striking out on a wild pitch. After he was erased by a double play, Mike Yastrzemski hit his first double of the season, but was stranded on second. In the third, Tyler Fitzgerald singled and stole second, but was stranded on second.

After Fitzgerald’s single, Greene retired 10 straight Giants. After Willy Adames singled in the sixth, Green retired nine more in a row. In the 9th, Greene was a strike away from victory with both Jung Hoo Lee and Chapman before yielding a seventh-pitch single and a six-pitch walk. Through 8 innings, Greene had thrown only 83 pitches and 65 of them were strikes, so perhaps it was a moral victory for the Giants to deny him what looked like an inevitable complete-game shutout.

Webb got into a small amount of trouble in his first two innings. He gave up a single to Elly De La Cruz in the first, but the damage was minimized thanks to a slick game-opening catch by Lee.

Webb then gave up two singles in the second inning, giving the Reds a first-and-third situation with one out. But after a strikeout to Hurtubise, the Reds ran what looked like a designed play where Steer broke for second and Jeimer Candelario made a delayed break for home, only to get thrown out by Webb.

The Giants’ ace only gave up one more hit in the next five innings, though he got some assistance from his defense. Lee robbed another hit with another sliding catch in the fifth inning.

After a leadoff single in the sixth, Gold Glove catcher Patrick Bailey fielded a really nice TJ Friedl bunt and got him at first. With a runner in scoring position, Webb struck out the final two hitters of the inning, and four of the final five Reds he faced in the game. His final line? Seven innings, 10 Ks, four hits, zero walks, two fist pumps directed at his center fielder.

The main takeaway from this game is that Hunter Greene is very, very good. LaMonte Wade, Jr. continues to struggle, striking out two more times. Aside from a stretch of five at-bats where Wade hit a home run, a triple, and two doubles, Wade is hitless on the season with 13 strikeouts and one unintentional walk. The Giants’ defense also remains quite solid, giving them a chance to win a game where they had almost no offense to speak of.

The Giants will face lefty Nick Lodolo Tuesday night, a pitcher who gave them their only other loss of the 2025 season in the season’s second game. Landen Roupp will take the hill for the Giants, who will be playing for the honor of the Golden Gators on San Francisco State Night.

After losing on Santa Clara Night Monday, the Giants hitters owe Logan Webb an apology, and also Brandin Podziemski of the Golden State Warriors. Let’s hope they don’t let down Annete Bening, Danny Glover, Delroy Lindo, and Dana Carvey tomorrow.