SAN FRANCISCO — Tony Vitello and his new staff got together on Wednesday morning to go over some final details before their season opener. A couple of hours later, the new Giants manager sat at a podium and smiled as he recalled the big plate of pastries that had been placed in the room.
“I avoided one of those pastries and they all looked pretty deadly,” Vitello said. “So, I’m at least 1-0 today.”
By the end of the day, Vitello and the Giants were 0-1 where it mattered.
Logan Webb‘s latest Opening Day assignment ended up being one of the worst starts of his career and the new-look lineup had no answers for New York Yankees ace Max Fried. The Giants lost 7-0 on Major League Baseball’s Opening Night, falling flat in front of a national television audience.
The Yankees scored five runs in the second and cruised from there despite an awful night from superstar Aaron Judge. It was their second Opening Day shutout against the Giants in four years, as they also did it at Yankee Stadium in 2023. The Giants had not been shut out at home on Opening Day since 2007.
Here are the takeaways from Wednesday’s loss at Oracle Park:
One To Forget
Webb made his fifth consecutive Opening Day start, joining Juan Marichal as the only San Francisco Giants pitchers to accomplish that feat. In the four previous ones, he allowed 10 total runs. On Wednesday, he was charged with seven — six of them earned — in five innings. In two Opening Day starts against the Yankees, Webb has been hit for 11 runs.
Webb’s night went off the rails in a flash in the second inning. The Yankees got four hits on six pitches at one point, including hits on three consecutive changeups from Webb. The big blow was a triple from Trent Grisham that landed on the track in right-center and made it a five-run inning.
The Yankees led MLB in runs scored last year, and at times, they overwhelmed Webb. They had a stretch in the fifth when they got three hits on four pitches.
Webb had allowed seven runs just twice previously in his career, and only once since becoming a full-time member of the rotation in 2021. He became the first Giant to allow six earned runs on Opening Day since Gaylord Perry in 1970.
Shades of July/August 2025
Even if Webb had put up a quality start, the Giants probably would have lost this one. The lineup wasted a first-and-third opportunity with one out in the first and then went into hibernation mode. Even that brief rally only came about because two Yankees lost a Rafael Devers bloop in the sun.
Their next hit didn’t come until the fourth, when Heliot Ramos singled to right. That was it against Fried, who struck out four in 6 1/3 scoreless innings.
For the newcomers, it was a mixed bag.
Luis Arraez led off with a walk in his first Giants plate appearance and singled in the eighth inning, extending his hitting streak to 16 games going back to last season. That ties his career-high.
Harrison Bader was 0-for-3 with a pair of strikeouts in his first game in orange and black.
The Positive
It wasn’t all bad for Webb, who dominated the first inning of the MLB season and got what might go down as the ugliest swing by Judge this season. He struck out his Team USA teammate three times, with the last one getting him to 1,000 career strikeouts.
Webb became the 14th pitcher in franchise history to reach that mark, and if he gets another 200-strikeout season, he’ll rank 11th in franchise history by the end of the year.
Keaton Winn came on after Webb and froze Judge with a 97 mph fastball. The four-strikeout game was Judge’s first since September 28, 2024.
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