Webb's 'elite' outing, defense come up big vs. Brewers

SAN FRANCISCO -- The Giants are meant to be a team built around pitching and defense. They certainly leaned into that identity on Wednesday night.

Logan Webb struck out six over 6 1/3 scoreless innings and Wilmer Flores delivered a two-run, bases-loaded single that ignited a four-run sixth inning, lifting the Giants to a 4-2 win over the Brewers in the third game of a four-game series at Oracle Park.

Webb allowed only six hits and walked three while lowering his ERA to 1.98 over his first six starts of the year, which ranks fifth in the National League behind Yoshinobu Yamamoto (0.93), Nick Pivetta (1.20), Mitchell Parker (1.39) and Andrew Heaney (1.72). With his latest quality start, Webb is up to 36 1/3 innings on the season, one behind Zack Wheeler for the most in the Majors.

“He’s one of the elite pitchers in the National League,” manager Bob Melvin said.

Webb has drawn NL Cy Young votes for three consecutive years, but that hasn’t kept him from continuing to evolve on the mound. The 28-year-old right-hander felt he was overly reliant on his changeup at times earlier in his career, but he’s expanded his arsenal in recent years and is now mixing in more of his four-seam fastball and cutter to keep hitters off-balance. He threw mostly sinkers (44%) and sweepers (34%) against the Brewers, but he also used his four-seamer to record two of his six punchouts on Wednesday.

"I think a lot of it has to do with changing eye levels,” Webb said. “There’s been great defense played behind me. There’s a lot of stuff that goes into that sort of thing. I think [catcher Patrick Bailey] has done such an amazing job calling pitches. I think our game plan has been really well thought-out. Everything’s been clicking. Hopefully we just keep it going. But I think a lot of it today was the defense played a great game. It was awesome.”

Webb and Milwaukee right-hander Freddy Peralta each put up zeros through the first five innings before the Giants finally ended the stalemate in the sixth.

Willy Adames flied out and grounded out in his first two at-bats against Peralta -- his close friend and former Brewers teammate -- but he won their third encounter by lining a 2-0 fastball to center field for a leadoff single.

Jung Hoo Lee followed with another base hit to right field and Matt Chapman walked to force Peralta from the game and load the bases for Flores, who tapped a low slider from reliever Nick Mears just past a diving Joey Ortiz and into center field for a two-run single. Flores now has 27 RBIs through his first 25 games, the most in the Majors.

"He’s been in that situation so many times and come through so many times that it’s just a real calm process,” Melvin said. “He’s very aware of what he needs to do in those situations.”

A pair of two-out errors by second baseman Brice Turang and Ortiz helped the Giants tack on two more runs and extend their lead to 4-0, Milwaukee miscues that stood in contrast to the strong defense San Francisco displayed behind Webb in the top of the inning.

William Contreras came close to sparking the Brewers’ offense by reaching on a one-out single, but he ended up being thrown out by Mike Yastrzemski after he tried to advance from first to third on Sal Frelick’s subsequent single to right field. Yastrzemski, a Gold Glove Award finalist last year, quickly fielded the ball and made a perfect one-hop throw to Chapman, who tagged out Contreras to prevent the Brewers from having runners on the corners.

"Yaz is one of the best at throwing people out, especially at third base,” Webb said. “I don’t know how many times I’ve seen that. I was excited when I saw [Contreras] going to third. I was like, ‘You’re doing us a favor.’”

Second baseman Christian Koss then followed with his own impressive play, making a lunging grab on Rhys Hoskins’ shot up the middle before spinning and firing to first base for the final out of the inning.

“Yaz’s throw was huge, obviously,” Melvin said. “Koss made a really good play up the middle, too. In close games at our ballpark -- and we’re going to play a lot of them -- that’s the type of defense that we need to play to win games.”

Closer Ryan Walker ran into trouble in the ninth, allowing two runs before Camilo Doval came in to slam the door and preserve the victory.

With the win, the Giants improved to 14-2 against right-handed starters in 2025, the best mark in the Majors.