Belt boosts Giants with first 2020 homer

The numbers don’t quite match up to reality for Giants first baseman Brandon Belt, even after another night of dominance against Rockies right-hander Jon Gray.

Belt extended his track record of success against Gray by homering and doubling in Wednesday’s 4-3 win over the Rockies at Coors Field, which snapped the Giants’ three-game losing streak.

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Belt, who entered the game 2-for-13 after opening the season on the injured list, is now 10-for-24 (.417) with four doubles and two home runs in his career against Gray.

“I'm not really sure that I see him all that great,” Belt said. “I know that kind of sounds weird, but I think you know coming into it he's going to be a tough pitcher, so you’ve just got to bear down and bring your A-game, so to speak.”

The Rockies jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the third inning, but the Giants erased the deficit in the fourth on Belt’s first home run of the season. After Mike Yastrzemski reached on an error and Donovan Solano singled, Belt drove a slider from Gray out to right field for a towering shot that put the Giants ahead, 3-2. The blast had a 46-degree launch angle and traveled an estimated 373 feet, according to Statcast.

“The way the ball has been carrying here, I did think it was going to get out off the bat,” Belt said. “I knew I hit it pretty high, but the ball is carrying well. I squared it up -- a little bit too high -- but the spot of the field that I hit it, I thought I got it enough to get it out there.”

Belt added a double in the sixth to collect his second extra-base hit of the year and later scored on Wilmer Flores’ RBI single to knock in an insurance run for the Giants (6-7), who will go for a split of this four-game series on Thursday. It was the 232nd career double for Belt, moving him into a tie with Rich Aurilia for ninth place on the all-time list for San Francisco.

Rookie Logan Webb became the first Giants starter to earn a win this season after allowing two runs (one earned) on four hits over five innings in the club’s 13th game of the 2020 campaign. The 23-year-old right-hander has quietly emerged as one of the most dependable members of the Giants’ rotation thus far, logging a 2.13 ERA over his first three outings of the year.

"I think last year when we had Buster [Posey] and [Stephen Vogt] that's one thing they preached, is pitch a winner," Webb said. "Even if that doesn't go the way you wanted. When you pitch a winner, that's the main thing. That's how I go into every start."

The Giants’ porous defense cost Webb a run in the first, as Solano -- the lone infielder positioned on the left side of second base with the shift on -- opened the inning by misplaying a grounder off the bat of David Dahl. The Rockies’ leadoff hitter advanced to second on a wild pitch before scoring on Charlie Blackmon’s RBI single to center field. San Francisco has committed 17 errors through its first 13 games, the most in the Majors.

Webb allowed only a sacrifice fly to Dahl the rest of the way and took the mound in the sixth with his pitch count at 67. Tony Wolters lined his first pitch of the inning to left field for a single, prompting manager Gabe Kapler to lift him before he could face the top of the Rockies’ order for a third time. Lefty Caleb Baragar replaced Webb and retired Dahl, Trevor Story and Blackmon to end the inning.

“He’s pretty fiery and tenacious,” Kapler said of Webb. “Even though he pitched a really good game against a really tough lineup in this ballpark, I still felt like he has more in the tank and you know what, we feel like he has more in the tank.

“I think he's done a really good job of maintaining his stuff. The movement on his changeup is great. The fastball has had life. And now we just have to tighten up his command, even a little bit more. When he does that, I think he’s really capable of going deep into games like some of the better pitchers in the league.”

Colorado pulled within one on Nolan Arenado’s solo shot off Tony Watson in the seventh, but Tyler Rogers and Trevor Gott worked a scoreless eighth and ninth, respectively, to seal the win for the Giants.