A pair of pitchers looking to build off strong starts will aim to give their teams an Independence Day victory when the San Francisco Giants finish a three-game road set against the Atlanta Braves. Atlanta’s Charlie Morton (5-4, 3.89 ERA) will face Logan Webb (6-6, 3.12) in Thursday night’s series finale, following a split of the first two meetings.
Morton threw 6 1/3 scoreless innings Friday in his most recent outing, helping Atlanta top the Pittsburgh Pirates 6-1. With the victory, the 40-year old right-hander has defeated every major league club. In 16 career starts against San Francisco, Morton is 4-6 with a 2.77 ERA. He hasn’t faced the Giants since Sept. 14, 2022, taking a 4-1 loss. For San Francisco, Webb, a right-hander, earned a no-decision after seven innings of two-run ball against the rival Los Angeles Dodgers last Friday. Last year’s NL Cy Young Award runner-up, Webb has completed at least six innings in 10 consecutive outings dating to May 10.
Thursday will mark Webb’s seventh career start against Atlanta, and he has a 2-0 record and 3.05 ERA. In the second game of the series on Wednesday, Atlanta earned a 3-1 win thanks to six quality innings from starter Chris Sale. With 11 wins, Sale is tied atop the major league leaderboard with Seth Lugo of the Kansas City Royals. Offensively, Austin Riley tallied a pair of hits and two RBIs, and the Atlanta third baseman has seen his batting average increase from .220 to .254 since June 13.
