WASHINGTON—Matt Chapman homered in his third straight game, Logan Webb pitched into the sixth inning, and the San Francisco Giants beat the Washington Nationals 4–1 on Monday night.
The Giants have won eight of their past 10 games and, at 57–57, have reached the .500 mark for the first time since they were 29–29 entering play on June 1, when they lost to the New York Yankees.
San Francisco’s Tyler Fitzgerald, the National League rookie of the month for July, had two hits and homered for the second consecutive game. He has homered in 10 of his past 17 games, with 11 homers total.
“I’ve had power in the minors,“ Fitzgerald said. ”It’s just one of those weird things where it’s all happening real close together. Baseball’s weird, and it can be good like this sometimes, and sometimes you can get in little slumps. I’m just trying to ride this out.”
Webb (9–8), coming off a five-hit shutout of the Oakland A’s, allowed just one run on four hits over 5 2/3 innings. He struck out four and walked three while throwing 95 pitches, after having thrown 106 against Oakland.
“Ninety-five was perfect for him,” Manager Bob Melvin said of Webb’s effort on a hot night. “Unfortunately, he gave up the one run, but he pitched really well again.”
Camilo Doval struck out the side in the ninth for his 21st save.
Washington starter Patrick Corbin (2–12), who was seeking his 100th career win, allowed four runs on seven hits in six innings.
Travis Blankenhorn had two hits for the Nationals.
Fitzgerald led off the game with a home run.
“It’s pretty impressive what he’s doing,” Corbin said. “But you’ve still got to attack these guys. First batter of the game. Go from there.”
In the third, Corbin walked Michael Conforto with two outs and a runner on second, and Chapman hit the first pitch he saw for his 18th homer to give the Giants a 4–0 lead.
Chapman is hitting .378 (17-for-45) with four doubles, five homers, 11 RBIs, and eight runs scored over his past 12 games.
Webb carried a shutout into the sixth inning, but a 13-pitch walk by Keibert Ruiz, followed by a balk and James Wood’s RBI single got Washington on the board. Webb’s night was over one batter later.
“I was throwing stuff down the middle,“ Webb said of the Ruiz at-bat. ”I was like, ‘If you hit a home run, I’m OK,’ because I just want him to put the ball in play. I threw him everything: four-seams, cutters, sliders, changeups, two- seams, and he just kept fouling it off. It’s kind of annoying, to be honest.”
