While the San Francisco Giants have experienced many issues with their bullpen during their immensely challenging 2026 season, that’s not where analyst and former All-Star pitcher Shawn Estes threw the blame after the team’s latest bullpen implosion.
Despite taking a 3-1 lead into the ninth inning against the Washington Nationals, San Francisco came away with a 4-3 loss. All three Washington runs in the ninth came against Keaton Winn.
But rather than call Winn out for the blown save, Estes wanted to know why Logan Webb, who pitched eight largely dominant innings, did not go out to finish the game.
Shawn Estes Criticized San Francisco Giants Coaches for Pulling Logan Webb
After starting his commentary by acknowledging that “Keaton Winn’s gonna get a lot of blame for this game,” Estes bluntly stated that Winn “shouldn’t” get that criticism.
“And I’ll tell you why he shouldn’t,” Estes said.
Estes then noted Winn’s recent heavy workload. The loss to the Nationals was his third appearance in a row. Winn’s previous outing came on a Sunday night victory over the Chicago Cubs, after which the Giants immediately had to fly across the country to host Washington a day later. That closed out a busy road trip, where Estes noted that Winn not only appeared in four games but “in three of those four he had to get five outs.”
“The guy’s arm is tired,” Estes said. “And you could tell in the ninth inning, based on the mistakes he was making with that split, that he just didn’t have it. His arm was beat. My point is that he shouldn’t even be in the game today. You know who should be in the game? The guy that started the game.”
The Nationals had very little luck against Webb, who, in eight innings, allowed only one run on five hits with no walks and nine strikeouts. He finished the eighth inning with 99 pitches thrown. That came on the heels of pitching seven shutout innings in a 1-0 win over the Milwaukee Brewers in his previous outing.
“He’s your ace,” Estes said of Webb. “He’s the guy that can handle that. The guy’s thrown more than 100 pitches a few times in his career. He pitched his butt off all game.”
Estes continued.
“He’s the guy that was able to get his sleep last night,” he said. “He wants the ball in that inning. In a game like that today, you want to save your bullpen. I guarantee you that Logan Webb wanted to go out and pitch that 9th inning.”
Estes Questioned Other Ninth-Inning Decisions
Winn did retire the first hitter of the inning but quickly fell into trouble afterwards. He allowed a double to James Wood, then hit Luis García Jr. That put the tying run on base and brought CJ Abrams to the plate as the go-ahead run.
Wood and pinch-runner Jose Tena each advanced when Winn’s second offering to Abrams got away from catcher Eric Haase. And while putting the tying run in scoring position wasn’t what the Giants wanted, there was a bright spot to Estes. An open first base made the decision easy — walk Abrams.
“Second and third with one out, you’ve got a guy with 49 RBI at the plate, you’ve got a 2-0 count, put him on first base,” Estes said. “Why let that guy beat you? I just don’t understand that.”
San Francisco opted to pitch to Abrams, who tied the game with a two-run single. After Winn struck out Dylan Crews for the second out, he allowed a go-ahead single to Daylen Lile to score Abrams, who had stolen second base. Winn was then removed. Dylan Smith got the third out of the inning to keep the score 4-3.
And while the Giants threatened in the bottom of the ninth inning, that stood as the final score. For Estes, though, the game was lost before then.
“I don’t want to be the hindsight’s 20-20 guy,” he said. “But it just seems like that last inning, it was lost when the inning started, just based on how it was managed. And I hate to say that. But that’s a win you gotta have right there.”
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