Logan Webb watched the Giants lose 3-1 to the Braves on Friday night at Oracle Park after San Francisco went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position. The Giants scored once in the first inning and never scored again, a missed chance that left them at 33-48 at the season's halfway point.
Oracle Park Opens With One Run
Rafael Devers put San Francisco ahead 1-0 with a 405-foot RBI double in the first inning. That was the only run the Giants got, even though the inning started with Luis Arraez and Devers doubling off the outfield walls.
The offense kept creating brief pressure without cashing it in. Luis Arraez ran into the Giants' first out by trying to take third on Bryce Eldridge's grounder to shortstop, and Willy Adames was caught trying to run on Matt Chapman's flyout to center in the second inning.
Drew Cavanaugh Breaks Through
The third inning brought another twist. Luis Arraez made an errant throw on a double-play attempt, then Ozzie Albies answered with a two-out RBI single to put the Braves ahead 2-1.
In the fifth inning, Drew Cavanaugh got a hit in his Major League debut, lining a sharp single up the middle off Hurston Waldrep's 95-mph sinker and drawing a standing ovation. He later said, "It felt great. I hit it and saw it was going to go thorugh. Everything after that was pretty much a blur" and "What a moment. All those years practicing and waiting for that moment, it was surreal."
Adames Left Stranded
Willy Adames finished 2-for-3, but his eighth-inning double off Michael Harris II's glove on the warning track did not change the score. Chapman followed by striking out looking, ending the last real threat for San Francisco.
Chapman went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts and entered the night 2-for-32 over his previous nine games. Tony Vitello said, "It was a difference-maker in the game, but the only theme I saw across a few of those at-bats was guys just reaching and feeling for the baseball instead of trusting their swings and making the baseball do the work."
The Braves added their last run in the fifth when Matt Olson hit a 394-foot double off the center field wall and Albies followed with an RBI flyout. San Francisco had enough contact to stay in it, including extra-base hits from Devers, Eldridge, and Adames, but the 0-for-8 line with runners in scoring position kept the game out of reach.
