SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Five minutes before first pitch Saturday afternoon, beneath overcast skies with temperatures in the low 70s, Bob Melvin bounded out of the first-base dugout, slapped the lineup card against his hands three times and strode toward home plate.
“And now,” the public address announcer boomed for the first time, “the starting lineup for the San Francisco Giants, as announced by manager Bob Melvin.”
For Melvin, the Menlo Park-raised manager, Saturday was more than just the Giants’ first exhibition of spring. It was his first time in the home dugout here, obliging autograph seekers and chatting up fans over the roof before the game before settling into his perch on the top step, closest to home plate.
After an 8-4 loss to the Cubs to begin the Giants’ Cactus League schedule, though, Melvin wasn’t interested in sentimentalities.
“I didn’t really like the way it went, to tell you the truth,” Melvin said. “There were a lot of things that we just didn’t do well. Some awareness things, too. Two-out walks and now it’s a homer. Running into an out when we’re down by four. Maybe some bad swing decisions when we’re down.
“So, I mean, not great. It’s the first game of spring; it’s never going to be perfect. But those are the types of things we’re going to talk about all spring.”
San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Logan Webb throws against the Chicago Cubs during the first inning of a spring training baseball game Saturday, Feb. 24, 2024, in Scottsdale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
Controlling the base paths
As he should on Opening Day, Logan Webb got the nod on the first day of Cactus League play.
Allowing two runs over two innings, the Giants’ ace got a taste of his No. 1 objective this spring.
After Mike Tauchman led off the game with a single to left, he was immediately erased when Webb induced a comebacker from the next batter, which he fired to Thairo Estrada to start a 1-4-3 double play, and was out of the inning after three batters and eight pitches.
In the second, he had runners on the corners and one out when Miles Mastrobuoni took off from first base. He easily swiped second, putting himself in scoring position, and on a single from Brennen Davis two batters later became the second run to score off Webb.
“It’s something I’ve been trying to get better at,” Webb said of holding baserunners. “I think my times were a little quicker today.”
No pitcher induced a larger percentage of contact on the ground last season than Webb, while only two rated out worse — according to a metric developed by Statcast — at keeping the running game in check. Runners took an average lead of 5.6 feet, the third-largest of any pitcher in the majors.
And therein lies the importance: Keeping more runners at first base means more double-play opportunities for Webb.
“He understands with his ground-ball rates, if we can keep guys on first base more, it gives us an opportunity for more double plays and to be even more economical with his pitches,” Melvin said. “He’s kind of a rare guy.”
While Webb wasn’t in top form, allowing three hits and hitting a batter, he was around the strike zone and left healthy, which is all he can ask for from the first game action of spring training. After a quick first, he labored through 25 pitches in the second, but finished with 21 of his 35 total pitches in the strike zone.
After Davis’ two-run single, when left fielder Michael Conforto’s throw scooted past Patrick Bailey, new pitching coach Bryan Price made his first mound visit.
“The first thing I said was my bad, I did a (poor) job at backing up the base on that throw,” Webb said. “He said he was going to tell me that afterward.”
Kyle Harrison is slated to start Sunday’s game against the Rangers, and Webb, his offseason training partner, said, “You’ll see it tomorrow: Kyle’s probably more ready than anybody here.”
Sixty-nine’s a crowd
When Webb entered the dugout for his customary handshake line before first pitch, he didn’t know where to start.
The first-base dugout was lined three deep at times with players in orange jerseys and ballcaps as seemingly every member of big-league camp — and a few minor leaguers over from Papago for insurance — accepted the invitations to stay for the first game.
“There were a million guys in the bullpen when I was warming up. That was fun,” Webb said. “I shook a couple guys’ hands and said all right, group hands! And walked out. But it was cool to see.”
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Melvin has encouraged unity this camp, with all 69 players in camp dressing in the same clubhouse.
But in a little spring training dugout, it makes for pretty cramped quarters.
“It’s good that everybody wanted to be out there,” Melvin said. “I’m not sure we’ll have 60-plus guys in the dugout every game. But it was pretty cool.”
Notable
— Outfielder Heliot Ramos left the game in the fifth inning after being hit in the right knee by an 83-mph breaking ball, but Melvin said he was already doing better and had him penciled into Sunday’s lineup against the Rangers.
— It took until Luis Matos ripped a line-drive single into left field with one out in the third inning for the Giants to record their first hit of the spring, and they didn’t muster a run until their final trip to the plate. Yoshi Tsutsugo delivered their first RBI knock, driving in two runs with a single through the right side with two outs in the ninth. Otto Lopez later smacked a two-run home run in the inning.