PHILADELPHIA — Giants pitching coach Andrew Bailey, effervescent as always, walked up to Logan Webb in the clubhouse Monday afternoon and proclaimed, “It’s a beautiful day out there.”
He was right. The air was warm — 89 degrees at first pitch — but not soupy. In a bandbox like Citizens Bank Park, that meant the ball should be flying. Webb was at his very best, limiting the Phillies to four hits and pitching into the ninth inning for the first time of his career, but three of those hits were solo home runs, nearly spoiling an otherwise beautiful pitching performance from San Francisco’s ace.
His catcher, Curt Casali, wouldn’t allow it. After Kyle Schwarber tied the game with his own home run off Webb in the ninth, preventing him from finishing the first complete game of his career, Casali jacked such a no-doubter to left field that Schwarber just turned and watched as it flew a dozen rows deep into the blue seats. At home plate, Casali watched it, too, striking a pose and dropping his bat before rounding the bases for the decisive runs in a 5-4 win.
