Giants starter Logan Webb outpitches Walker Buehler, holding the Dodgers to five hits while striking out 10 in 7-2/3 innings in a 4-0 win. Game 2 is Saturday night.
SAN FRANCISCO — The Dodgers were victimized by a Webb gem. Buster Posey hit a 3-and-0 fastball from Walker Buehler into McCovey Cove for a two-run home run in the first inning and the Dodgers never responded, managing just five hits in eight innings against Giants starter Logan Webb and losing Game 1 of the NL Division Series,4-0, Friday night at Oracle Park. The Dodgers spent the summer trying to catch up to the San Francisco Giants. The weather has changed. That pursuit hasn’t. The best-of-five series continues Saturday night at 6 p.m. “I just think, to be quite honest, we didn’t make adjustments,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of his hitters. “I thought he had good command tonight, mostly to the glove side versus right-handed hitters. Then the slider, the changeup down below and we just chased a lot more than we have. “If you don’t make adjustments, then they’re going to keep going to the well and that was kind of the story of it.” The Dodgers were counting on Buehler’s history of postseason excellence to give them a leg up in the series. But he was outpitched by the Giants’ 24-year-old emerging ace making his first postseason start. “Logan was the star of the day, night,” Giants outfielder Kris Bryant said. “I’m so impressed with him. His first playoff experience and he was out there playing like it was a game in his backyard.” Webb befuddled the Dodgers’ hitters with a late-breaking slider and changeup. Like Bon Jovi, he did all of his best work in the 80s. In 92 pitches Friday, he threw just 25 fastballs,20 of those sinkers. The rest were sliders (29) and changeups (38). The Dodgers swung at 36 of those pitches – and missed 19 times. Webb struck out 10 Dodgers and induced weak contact, producing 11 ground-ball outs. Six of those ground outs left the Dodgers bats at less than 75 mph.
