SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) — Relying on an arsenal of off-speed pitches, San Francisco’s Logan Webb mastered the potent Los Angeles lineup Friday night, tossing 7 2/3 innings of scoreless baseball while striking out 10 and leading the Giants to a 4-0 victory in Game 1 of the National League Divisional Series.
Meanwhile, the power of the San Francisco lineup delivered against Dodgers starter Walter Buehler and reliever Alex Vesia. Buster Posey, Brandon Crawford and Chris Bryant all homered.
Webb, who has won all four starts this season against the Dodgers this year, was in complete control all night long with a nearly unhittable changeup and a slider that forced ground ball outs.
“Buster called a great game,” he said following the game. “It’s more changeups than I have thrown in a long time. It was working.”
Giants’ Logan Webb pitches against the Dodgers in Game 1 of a a National League Division Series game Oct. 8, 2021. (AP Photo/John Hefti)
A brilliant performance by the young right-hander supported by a veteran catcher who has shined on this big October stage so many times before.
Webb credited Posey’s presence behind the plate in helping him excel.
“Just having him back there, honestly,” Webb said. “He’ll calm me down.”
Webb tossed 62 off-speed pitches among his 92 thrown during his 7 2/3 innings of work.
Webb dazzled on a night San Francisco 49ers Hall of Famers Jerry Rice and Steve Young led the “Beat LA!” chant before first pitch. Home run king Barry Bonds drew a standing ovation, stood and waved when shown on the big screen in the middle innings sitting with NBA Hall of Famer Chris Mullin.
It was the first post-season meeting between the two heated rivals in more than 100 years. The Giants won 107 regular season games this year, ending the Dodgers stranglehold of eight straight NL West division titles.
The teams met 19 times during the regular season. After going winless in the first four regular season meetings, San Francisco went 10-5 the rest of the way to finish with a 10-9 head-to-head advantage.
Tommy La Stella hit a pair of singles and played sparkling defense, getting things started by drawing a five-pitch walk from Buehler in the bottom of the first.
The Giants’ Buster Posey hit a two-run homer in the first inning of Game 1 of the National League Division Series Oct. 8, 2021. (AP Photo/Jed Jacobsohn)
That set things up for Posey, who sat out last year’s coronavirus-shortened season to care for prematurely born adopted twin girls. He clobbered a 3-0 pitch that bounced off a water-spraying pillar above the right-field arcade with two outs in the first inning.
“The dang column kept me from a splash hit,” Posey cracked with a grin. No right-handed hitter has ever reached McCovey Cove directly, although Posey’s dinger did land in the water where it was promptly netted by a floating fan.
Kapler said Posey could play every postseason game and why not? At age 34, the veteran catcher started five of the final six regular-season games and 10 of 13 overall to end the season. This marked his first postseason home run since Game 4 of the 2012 World Series at Detroit off Max Scherzer.
The Dodgers will try to even the series when they send 20-game winner Julio Urías to the mound for Game 2 on Saturday night opposite Giants All-Star right-hander Kevin Gausman.
© Copyright 2021 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report
Source: sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com.