Last night’s 2-0 loss to the Cincinnati Reds sure was frustrating, but it was also filled with an odd sense of optimism. It felt like a game from the Beforetimes, when the San Francisco Giants were (seemingly) perennial contenders. They were competitive until the final at bat. They lost but it didn’t feel like a statement loss. Instead, it’ll wind up being an interesting chapter in team history.
Logan Webb was dynamite. He struck out 10 and walked 0 in 7 innings. He looked confident with all of his pitches and was unbowed by the Reds’ tough at bats (his quickest inning was a 9-pitch 4th; otherwise, they made him work). He didn’t get the L, but that’s still a painful no decision, and it got me thinking… how often has a Giants pitcher struck out 10 and walked 0 in 7 innings and the Giants lost the game?
Now, I like to keep things real simple and use the turn of the century as the starting point for these sorts of look-backs. “The Oracle Park Era” just makes a lot of sense to me and we have a lot of great pitching performances in living memory that we can compare with newer episodes. In the Oracle Park Era, there have been 34 instances where a starter struck out at least 10, walked 0, and pitched at least 7 innings. Only 7 times (21%) did the Giants lose.
It’s sort of a fun list with some obvious names on it, but also some surprises. Jeff Samardzija shoved against the Dodgers in 2017? Grant Brisbee wrote in his recap from that game:
Samardzija was excellent. As excellent as he can possibly be. This isn’t just me making stuff up, either. His Game Score was 90 tonight; his career high was 91, and that came in a one-hit shutout. Samardzija allowed four baserunners, and one of them came on an error. He struck out 11, getting 15 whiffs along the way. There was nary a walk allowed. His fastball averaged 94 and hit 97. He threw 29 sliders and ditched the cutter entirely … unless his cutter was extra-freaky for whatever reason.
That’s as well as he can pitch. And the Giants almost blew it.
Chris Heston appears on it twice. I don’t remember his no-hitter against the Mets featuring so many strikeouts, but he struck out 11. The month prior, he struck out 10 Astros in Houston. Matt Moore, Carlos Rodon, Jonathan Sanchez, Matt Cain, Johnny Cueto, Jason Schmidt, Kevin Gausman — a real Remembering Some Giants going on with this list.
Tim Lincecum pops up four times, of course, but the boss of this level is Madison Bumgarner, who appears a whopping 10 times. Only twice did the Giants lose those types of starts from him. One of them was the Opening Day in 2017 when he mashed a pair of dingers on top of a dominant start. Mark Melancon’s blown save was a portent for the awful, dreadful season (and end of the dynasty) that awaited us. The other was against the Dodgers in LA in 2016. So, here’s the real kicker:
Last night was only the third time in the Oracle Park Era that the Giants had lost a game at home by a starter who went 7, walked 0, and struck out 10. The other two were both Tim Lincecum starts and both, weirdly, against the Diamondbacks, but about a year apart. In one of those, Linecum allowed 2 runs. That’s right — there’s still one more level we can go here: shutout innings.
Consider that and we get just 14 instances since the turn of the century where a Giants starter has pitched 7 shutout innings, stuck out at least 10 and walked 0. The Giants have lost 4 such games and only 2 of them at home, about 16 years apart.
But! There’s yet another layer we can add. Logan Webb’s start last night is only the 23rd time in the history of the Giants where a starter has pitched 7 shutout innings, walked 0, and struck out at least 10 at home. Even with that filter, the only times the Giants lost were in the 21st century. Here they are listed out:
April 18, 2009 — Tim Lincecum vs. AZ | 8 IP 5 H 0 R 0 BB 13 K (Result: AZ 2, SF 0)
September 19, 2016 — Madison Bumgarner @ LAD | 7 IP 1 H 0 BB 10 K (Result: LAD 2, SF 1)
April 17, 2018 — Johnny Cueto @ AZ | 7 IP 2 H 0 BB 11 K (Result: AZ 1, SF 0)
April 7, 2025 — Logan Webb vs. CIN | 7 IP 4 H 0 BB 10 K (Result: CIN 2, SF 0)
Again… this is in the history of the Giants, New York & San Francisco. Last night was just the second time in franchise history that the team has lost a game where a starter pitched like that. That’s some rarified air.
Using the same filter to see how many times it’s happened to the Giants we get only 8 such games and only once did the Giants wind up winning that game — 2003 against Curt Schilling and the Diamondbacks. Just looking at Hunter Greene’s line from last night (8.2 IP 0 R 1 BB 7 K) and comparing to Oracle Park Era history, he was the 32nd starting pitcher to get into at least the 9th inning. The Giants have only won 2 such games where a starter was cruising to a shutout. One of those was pretty famous: Cliff Lee pitched 10 innings and the Giants won it in extras.
The Giants are an exciting story thanks to their 8-2 start, but here we see that even their losses are interesting.
