Exclusive | SF Giants pitchers have started calling their own games: Trust factor

MIAMI — The run Logan Webb is on is like nothing seen by a Giants pitcher, at least since Madison Bumgarner or Matt Cain.Those are the last two San Francisco starters to string together three straight starts of eight or more innings, and neither quite matched Webb’s dominance of late: Three earned runs in his past 31 innings, a 0.87 ERA.The explanation for Webb’s ascension into another dimension?Himself, in a way.The Giants’ ace began calling his own pitches — most of them, anyway — in his second start back from the injured list, flirting with a perfect game in seven one-hit innings in Milwaukee.“I didn’t throw the best until then.

I just came back and [thought] I’ve done it before, I haven’t thrown to these guys a lot,” Webb said.“I mean I was with [Patrick Bailey] for a long period of time.

There’s a trust factor in those sorts of things.”It worked out so well that Webb has continued the practice, trusting himself over two new catchers to keep batters guessing. As the Giants’ new catching tandem — Daniel Susac and Eric Haase — tries to catch up to the institutional knowledge that was sent packing when Bailey, a two-time Gold Glove winner, was traded to Cleveland, the rest of the staff has started to follow in Webb’s footsteps.“It’s definitely a learning process for all of us, so we’re encouraging our guys to maybe call their own games,” pitching coach Justin Meccage told The California Post.“You saw Robbie [Ray] do it a little bit in Atlanta.

[Landen] Roupp did it a little bit.”And so did Trevor McDonald, albeit with less favorable results.It’s something Adrian Houser wishes he would have experimented with before he was demoted to the bullpen this weekend.He told The Post that it’s been more difficult to get on the same page with the Giants’ catchers than any of the backstops he worked with last season.“I don’t think we’re doing a very good job of pitch sequencing right now or setting up good pitches...