DENVER — The Giants tied the score Saturday evening and sent their ace back to the mound for his fifth inning of work.
Three batters later, the Rockies regained a lead they would not again relinquish while sending the Giants to their second straight defeat to begin the second half, 4-3.
Battling his command and the effect of the mile-high altitude on his arsenal, Webb surrendered all four Rockies runs while issuing a season-high four walks and allowing eight hits, the penultimate of which left Ezequiel Tovar’s bat in the bottom of the fifth and didn’t land until it had found the concourse in left field, 455 feet away.
The Colorado shortstop jumped on a first-pitch sweeper that Webb left over the heart of the plate and launched a two-run home run that negated the RBI double from Tyler Fitzgerald that tied the score in the top half of the inning.
Batting out of the nine hole, Fitzgerald provided the Giants their first two runs, slugging a 420-foot solo home run to center field in his first at-bat and doubling home Mike Yastrzemski in the fifth. Yastrzemski started the inning by tripling into the right field corner.
After being tagged for seven runs in his final start before the All-Star break, Webb has now allowed 11 runs in 11 innings over his past two starts, raising his ERA to 3.59, a half-point higher than the mark he took into his outing last Wednesday against the Blue Jays (3.09).
Formulating his post-break pitching plans, manager Bob Melvin asked Webb if he’d like some extra rest and the workhorse said he wanted the ball as soon as possible. But from the get-go Saturday evening, it was apparent the 27-year-old right-hander didn’t have his usual stuff.
Webb allowed the Rockies to load the bases in the first inning, walking two of the first three batters he faced, and immediately put the Giants in a 2-0 hole. He navigated traffic on the base paths in two of his next three innings before the Rockies’ No. 9 hitter, Sam Hilliard, singled to start the bottom of the fifth, setting up Tovar’s decisive homer.
With less movement than usual across his arsenal, Webb threw his rarely used four-seam fastball more often than his signature changeup. His 16 four-seamers were his most in one start since early 2021, and his 14 changeups were tied for his fewest since his start here in September 2022.
The unfriendly conditions continued a trend for Webb away from Oracle Park.
The Giants fell to 3-9 behind Webb in 12 road starts, and he owns a 4.09 road ERA, more than a point higher than his 3.00 mark in nine starts in San Francisco.
Webb has also continually put the Giants behind early with his struggles in the first inning. The two runs he surrendered Saturday raised his ERA in the first inning to 5.57 — 13 earned runs in 21 starts — trailing only his ERA in the fifth inning, which Tovar’s two-run blast increased to 6.00.
Yastrzemski’s triple was his sixth of the season, already a career-high and now tied for third-most in the majors.
RHP Hayden Birdsong (1-0, 3.72) will make the fifth start of his major-league career against RHP Ryan Feltner (1-9, 5.36) in the series finale. First pitch is scheduled for 12:10 p.m. PT. Melvin mistakenly said Jordan Hicks was their probable starter, but he was set to take the ball in the first game of their series against the Dodgers all along.
