An hour-long rain delay at Coors Field didn’t take Logan Webb out of his zone.
Webb held the Colorado Rockies hitless through his first five innings as his teammate whipped up a four-run lead for him in the San Francisco Giants’ 6-1 win. Sean Bouchard’s single up the middle with one out in the sixth broke up Webb’s no-hit bid, prompting manager Gabe Kapler to pull Webb immediately from the game at 66 pitches.
It wasn’t immediately clear why Webb was pulled, but it could be to preserve the young pitcher’s arm after a delayed start having pitched a career-high innings this season (187.1 innings and 31 starts). There’s no need to overwork the 25-year-old starter who can be a centerpiece on Giants teams to come.
Every Giant in the lineup had at least one hit and five had multi-hit games, including Wilmer Flores who went 3-for-4, totaling 15 hits in all.
But what remains of this lost Giants season is still an opportunity for the Giants to shuffle through a few players they may want to have on the 2023 roster. So they did a little shuffle before Wednesday’s rain-delayed game to bring up a recently-acquired pitcher who is likely to start Thursday’s final game in Denver.
Jharel Cotton, claimed off waivers from the Minnesota Twins on Sunday, reported to Coors Field on Wednesday. Sean Hjelle, who gave up two runs in five innings as the bulk pitcher in Tuesday’s win, was optioned to make room on the roster.
The Giants also designated Lewis Brinson for assignment to make room on the roster for infielder Jason Vosler, adding another left-handed bat to a right-handed dominant roster.
Vosler had an RBI triple and scored in Wednesday’s game. He was batting .288 with four home runs in 23 games with the big league team this year and is batting .242 with 18 home runs with the Rivercats this year.
The Giants acquired Brinson in a trade with the Houston Astros. The 28-year-old former Marlins top prospect batted .167 with three home runs in 15 games with the Giants and could refuse an outright assignment and become a free agent if he goes unclaimed.
But Brinson may find an assignment to Triple-A Sacramento could give him a clearer path to re-joining a big league team always on the look out for diamonds in the rough.
