AN FRANCISCO — As Nick Ahmed stood at second base in the bottom of the eighth inning and clapped his hands at the home dugout at Oracle Park, the new lights turned off and then flashed. Ahmed’s double had come just a few feet from clearing the wall in left-center, and as it rattled around in front of a white backdrop, there was some confusion inside the ballpark.
It was easy to see how someone could have gotten excited and hit the button to celebrate home runs. The Giants haven’t hit one at home yet, and until Thursday night, they had not won a night game under their new lights.
Ahmed’s double kickstarted a four-run rally that put the Arizona Diamondbacks away for good — and also prevented the lights from being used for closer Camilo Doval, who was warming up the entire time and hopeful that he could finally see his new entrance in action. Doval sat down after Mike Yastrzemski’s two-run single, but if the Giants keep playing the way they did Thursday, he’ll get plenty of opportunities to run to the mound under a spotlight.
“That was probably as good a game as we’ve played all year,” manager Bob Melvin said after the 5-0 win. “That’s kind of what we’ve been looking for.”
The Giants truly did it all Thursday, and as always, it started with their ace. Logan Webb threw seven innings for a third consecutive start and allowed just two hits.
For most of the night, Webb, as is the norm, got no support. But the Giants broke through in the eighth, with Wilmer Flores coming off the bench for a two-run double and Mike Yastrzemski putting the game away with a two-run single.
It was a hilariously timed rally given the anticipation for the lights, but there was nobody in the home dugout who was complaining as Yastrzemski’s ball shot through the grass. The Giants are desperate for more production from right field, and Melvin has remained firmly behind Yastremski and Austin Slater, both of whom have struggled
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