Webb stifles Astros in 3-1 SF Giants win

Logan Webb went seven strong innings and faced only 23 batters as the Giants rode power hitting and double plays to a 3-1 win.

In general, you don’t win a baseball game when your team only gets four hits. That is, unless Logan Webb is on the mound and Heliot Ramos is continuing his power surge.

Webb went seven innings and gave up only a single run in a 3-1 San Francisco Giants win over the Houston Astros. He dominated the Astros, striking out six, walking none, and giving up five hits, but the most devastating part was how he broke the Astros’ spirits.

Three times in the first six innings, the Astros hit singles off of Webb. Three times, the runner was swiftly erased with a double play. The only damage that the Astros managed to do against the Giants ace was a fourth-inning home run by Jose Altuve, possibly thanks to a buzzer embedded in his jersey (allegedly!).

It was Altuve’s first home run of the 2025 season and the 229th of his career. It’s also his first as a left fielder, the position he adopted this season.

But the Giants matched that solo homer with a 4th-inning blast by Heliot Ramos, his third of the season. Ramos is slugging .810 on the season, with all five of his hits going for extra bases. This one left the park in a hurry, clearing the 19-foot wall in left field and going into the Crawford boxes with an exit velocity of 108.3 MPH.

Ramos has started the season with an extra-base hit in his first five games, the first Giant to do so since a guy named Willie Mays.

That blast gave the Giants a 3-0 lead, more than enough run support from Webb, who’s used to the team enacting austerity measures during his starts. The team only cobbled together four hits against Houston starter/tongue twister Hayden Wesneski, but they made them count.

In the third inning, Patrick Bailey led off with a walk. Then Christian Koss, in his very first major-league plate appearance, drew a six-pitch walk with his wife and daughter looking on. You’re never too young to learn about the value of on-base percentage!

With one out, Willy Adames drove a double to the left field wall, giving Koss his first major-league run to go with his first major-league walk. Koss got a little help from Altuve, who fielded the ball like, well, a 34-year-old second baseman playing the outfield.

Despite their lack of hits, the Giants got runners on in seven of the nine innings. They drew four walks, Wilmer Flores was hit by a pitch, and Koss reached on an error — I think we all know it’s the first time his done that in the big leagues. The most they threatened late was when Jung Ho Lee hit his third double of the season — and in the last three games — but he was stranded on third.

Was there drama? It wouldn’t be Giants baseball without at least a little bit of nausea-inducing relief pitching. Tyler Rogers got the first two batters out in the 8th inning before Brendan Rodgers singled. Pinch-hitter Victor Caratini singled him to second, and suddenly Altuve was at the plate as the potential go-ahead run, facing a pitcher he was batting 1.000 against.

To be fair, he’d only faced Rogers once. After fouling off two sinkers, Altuve popped up a slider to defensive replacement Casey Schmidt at first base. Ryan Walker got the 2-3-4 hitters out in order in the 9th and the Giants had their third straight win.

Walker is likely unavailable for Wednesday’s day game, when Landen Roupp will face left-hander Framber Valdez, but thanks to Webb’s seven-inning outing, the rest of the bullpen should be well-rested. While no one on the roster besides Matt Chapman has faced Valdez much, Adames has a double and three walks in five plate appearances, while Sam Huff, tomorrow’s likely catcher, is 1-for-3 with a walk.

And a strikeout. It’s Sam Huff, after all.

It’s a weird 3:10 PM local start on Wednesday, but a normal 1:10 for San Francisco. The Giants will go for a sweep, and at least five hits.