SAN FRANCISCO — Two months ago, when Logan Webb and Yoshinobu Yamamoto faced off at Dodger Stadium, the game ended with two teams atop the NL West standings. 

Webb and Yamamoto were back in action Monday night, one in San Francisco and one in Anaheim, and once again, the Dodgers are looking at potentially having a partner atop the division. But the Giants now are nowhere near that race. 

It’s the San Diego Padres — 4-1 winners on Monday night — who are closing in on the Dodgers, with just 1 1/2 games separating them. The Giants once hoped to catch the Padres in the wild-card race, but they now sit eight games back. 

Webb cruised through the first five innings, getting 11 outs on the ground and striking out a pair. The Padres pushed a run across in the sixth, but Rafael Devers immediately countered with a rocket to left-center, his third homer in four games on this homestand. 

The blast brought some juice back to the ballpark, but it didn’t last long. A double and RBI single gave the Padres the lead a few pitches into the seventh, and Freddy Fermin blasted a two-run shot down the left field line, handing a healthy lead to the league’s best bullpen. 

On The Board

The old “it’ll be a line drive in the box score” joke probably doesn’t apply in 2025, but Drew Gilbert at least can try it out. His first big league hit left the bat at just 65 mph and dropped softly between three Padres in shallow left, but a hit is a hit, and Gilbert officially has an MLB batting average.

Gilbert had been hitless in 10 at-bats through his first four starts, but the Giants are going to take a long look at the recently acquired prospect, and he showed off some tools Monday. After the single, he stole second, although he was thrown out at third as he tried to advance on a poor throw. Gilbert became the first Giant since Jason Vosler in 2021 to pick up his first hit and stolen base in the same game, and at the very least, he’s bringing some energy to a team that needs it. 

The longest hitless streak to start a Giants career, by the way, belongs to Edwards Guzman. He went 21 hitless at-bats between stints in 1999 and 2001.

Those Guys Again

The Padres have given Webb a lot of trouble in recent years, although he dominated them at Oracle on June 2. Early on Monday, this looked like another gem, and Webb needed just 66 pitches to get through five scoreless innings. The only hit through the first four was a single that came on a slow roller that took a weird bounce when it hit first base. 

But the Fermin homer left Webb with four runs on his line in 6 1/3 innings. He allowed eight hits, walked one and struck out three. Webb has now given up at least four earned in three of his last four home starts. 

Dominating

On the ninth pitch of his first at-bat, Dominic Smith redirected a Yu Darvish splitter up the middle, getting the first hit of the night for the Giants. The single extended Smith’s hitting streak to 14 games, the longest active one in the big leagues and longest of his career. 

Smith is the first Giant to reach 14 games since another left-handed first baseman, Brandon Belt. The longtime Giant did it during a 2021 MLB season that was his best as a big leaguer. 

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