Logan Webb's Eight-Inning Effort Wasted as Nationals Walk Off Giants

Logan Webb handed San Francisco's bullpen a tied game and nothing more to worry about. Eight innings, 99 pitches, seven strikeouts, one earned run — efficient enough that he averaged fewer than 12.5 pitches per inning. The Nationals couldn't solve him cleanly, and Webb finished the eighth having done everything a starter can reasonably do. The rest belonged to someone else.

It unraveled fast.

Washington took the lead first, in the top of the sixth, when Nationals shortstop Luis García Jr. singled on a sharp ground ball to right fielder Jung Hoo Lee, scoring James Wood to put Washington up 1-0. San Francisco answered immediately in the bottom of the sixth: Giants third baseman Matt Chapman lined a single to left fielder Daylen Lile, scoring Jung Hoo Lee to tie it at one.

The Giants fell behind again in the bottom of the eighth. Nationals first baseman Bryce Eldridge doubled on a soft line drive to left fielder Daylen Lile, scoring Lee to put Washington ahead 2-1. Giants center fielder Jonah Cox then laid down a sacrifice bunt, and Eldridge scored to extend the lead to 3-1 heading into the ninth.

San Francisco needed a three-run rally to win. They got exactly that — and then gave it back.

Giants reliever Keaton Winn entered the ninth in a tied game after Washington's lead evaporated quickly. James Wood grounded out to first to open the inning. Then García Jr. doubled on a fly ball to center fielder Jonah Cox. Curtis Mead was hit by a pitch. Nationals shortstop CJ Abrams then singled on a line drive to center, scoring García Jr. and José Tena to tie the game at three. Dylan Crews struck out swinging, and for a moment it looked like Winn might escape.

He didn't. Nationals left fielder Daylen Lile lined a single to center, scoring Abrams to put Washington ahead 4-3. That was the game — Winn charged with three runs on three hits in two-thirds of an inning, the blown save attached to his line.

Giants reliever Dylan Smith came on and got Keibert Ruiz to fly out to right to end the inning, but the damage was done and the deficit was real.

Webb's 99-pitch, eight-inning start — the kind of outing that typically earns a win — ended up attached to a loss because one reliever couldn't hold a lead for a single frame. Winn retired one batter, allowed three runs, and the Giants' offense had no answer in the bottom of the ninth.

Can a bullpen that gives away a ninth-inning lead in under six batters be trusted in close games the rest of the way?