The One Where Wilmer Got Logan a Win

May 17, 2025 | Latest Post, Out of Left Field

Photo credit: Lou Seal on X

by DrLefty

Last Tuesday afternoon, Logan sat in the clubhouse dining room at Oracle Park, picking at a salad. He’s a positive guy and not one to complain, especially if it might reflect on his teammates.

But he was tired of pitching his heart out and losing. He was in the top five in the National League in several pitching categories, a perennial Cy Young candidate, yet his record for the season was only 4-3. Meanwhile, the newish guy, Robbie, always seemed to win, no matter what he did. He even got a win at Yankee Stadium when he only pitched four innings!  Logan stared glumly at the wall.

In shuffled Wilmer. “What’s up, buddy? You look sad,” he said. Logan and Wilmer have been teammates for nearly six years now, so Logan felt he could be honest. They’ve been through the good, the bad, and the ugly together. Logan always assures Wilmer that it was a check swing and the umpire got it wrong, and Wilmer was going to take Max Scherzer deep on the next pitch, and…ah, well.

Logan said, “I love all you guys. I really do. I’m happy about how the season has gone so far. But…”

“Say no more, amigo. I got you,” said Wilmer.

“Really?” Logan replied.

“Wait till Orange Friday. You’ll see. I’ll be there for you.”

Logan smiled. You never know, right?

Last night we were at MrLefty’s birthday dinner, just a couple blocks from the ballpark, when I got a notification that Wilmer Flores had hit a grand slam to put the Giants up 4-0. My first reaction, after “Dang, Wilmer again!” was “Logan Webb must think he’s died and gone to heaven.” By the time we were walking back to the hotel, he’d hit his second homer, a three-run bomb. We saw the third in our hotel room.

Let’s watch them all.

 

Willy Adames drove in Matt Chapman with a single in the eighth after Wilmer’s third homer, but whatever. It was Wilmer Night. He drove in eight of the nine runs with his three homer, and is now tied with Aaron Freaking Judge for the MLB lead in RBIs. (Or as MrLefty put it: “Arson Who?” We have Wilmer.) He also put himself in pretty select company in Giants history, per MLB stats historian Sarah Langs.

 

(Yeah, I was surprised about the Joc Pederson thing, too, but then I remembered that Joc was an All-Star for the Giants in 2022, so he must have had a good first half. I kind of blocked out the whole two years of Joc.)

Do you remember who was the last Giant to hit three homers in a game against the A’? Sure you do. It was #ForeverGiant Jarrett Parker in September 2015, in Oakland.

Oh, and Logan? He cruised through eight innings, only giving up one run when there was a bit of inept defense behind him, and got his fifth win.

“You never know what you’re going to see when you come to a ballpark,” said Wilmer. No, you don’t.

 

Justin Verlander wants to know when Wilmer will be there for him, too.

 

 A Few Thoughts

Aside from last night’s historic fun, it’s been kind of a bummer week for the Giants, who lost five of six, including a sweep at the hands of the Twins and a discouraging series loss at home to the Arizona Diamondbacks. There are several things to consider about all of this.

  1. The Giants have actually started hitting/scoring. Going back to the Sunday game in Minnesota, which they lost in extra innings 7-6, the Giants have scored 33 runs in their last five games–and four of those have been at home. Adames is trending in the right direction, Jung Hoo Lee hit a couple of homers in the Arizona series, Mike Yastrzemski continues to have a strong season, and Tyler Fitzgerald is back from the injured list. Maybe the offensive problems aren’t quite as dire as they seemed a week or two ago.
  2. There are still some weak links on the pitching staff, and they are costing the Giants wins. Take the two most egregious losses this week, the 6-7 loss in Minnesota and the 7-8 loss to the Diamondbacks on Wednesday. While baseball is a team game and you can’t usually pin a loss on one particular guy, Sunday’s loss came down to Ryan Walker once again being unable to close a game out, and Wednesday was Jordan Hicks once again putting the team in a deep early hole that they were ultimately unable to dig out from, though they came close. In some of Hicks’s other implosions, he at least righted the ship and ate some innings, but not this time–he was out by the third inning. On the latest Giants Talk, Alex Pavlovic said that they had asked Bob Melvin about Hicks’s role going forward, and Melvin notably said, “The game just ended,” implying that this was going to be discussed. Alex said this was the first time that any smidge of doubt about Hicks in the rotation had ever been introduced. Hicks now has the worst ERA (6.55) of any qualified starting pitcher in baseball. As for Walker, Melvin has diplomatically noted that they’re lucky to have him and Camilo Doval who can both close games, so…we’ll see how that goes. It was a little surprising to see Doval pitch the top of the ninth in a blowout last night (I was hoping for Christian Koss), but it also was encouraging that Doval didn’t mess around and got right through that inning. There have been times in the past where he wouldn’t focus well if it wasn’t a save situation, but given his changed role this year, he seems to have moved past that.
  3. Buster Posey and Melvin have to decide between two important values. Two different issues are colliding here. One is that the Posey regime values stability and patience with the players. No bringing random strangers in from someone else’s waiver wire every week. No jerking young players back and forth between Sacramento and San Francisco the first time they make a mistake. And no prematurely removing starters from the rotation or closers from save opportunities. The other value is putting the best players on the roster and on the field. Hicks hasn’t just been “a little shaky.” He has the worst ERA of any starting pitcher in the majors, and yes, I know about his xFIP and all that, but the bottom line is that he’s not getting the job done, and it’s gotten to where his starts have turned into automatic losses (the Giants are 2-5 in his starts this year). And the other bottom line is that the Giants have no fewer than three young homegrown starters ready to take his place–and we know that Buster also values “young homegrown” players. (I added Carson Whisenhunt to the list along with Kyle Harrison and Hayden Birdsong because The Whiz is absolutely knocking on the door.)

So, putting all of this together, and I know I’ve recently said similar: The Giants are probably not going to be a strong enough offensive team to withstand starters who put them in early holes or relievers who can’t hold late leads. If they want be a winning team this year, they have to make the best choices on the pitching side–because they have very few options on the hitting side.

One happy note before I close this out: Top prospect Bryce Eldridge has been mashing for Richmond this week.

 

Don’t get ideas. Bryce is 20 years old, and he’s not going to be on the major league team this year. But I’m starting to check the River Cats’ schedule for June.

 

Tonight’s Game

Athletics vs Giants, 6:05 p.m. at Oracle Park

Luis Severino (1-4, 4.70 ERA) vs Landen Roupp (2-3, 4.95 ERA)

Roupp hasn’t been all that lately, either, and like Hicks, he could lose his rotation spot before too much longer. We’ll be at the game tonight and are looking forward to saying hi to the Crawniks, who will also be there. We’re 3-0 at the park so far this year, so hopefully we’ll keep it going for the Mr’s Big Birthday today.

We’ll let Wilmer and “Friends” take us today (Rest in Peace, Matthew Perry). Lefty out.