San Francisco Giants drop two out of three to Rangers in series set in Texas

Aug 1, 2015; Arlington, TX, USA; San Francisco Giants first baseman Brandon Belt (9) celebrates his home run with third base coach Roberto Kelly (39) during the third inning against the Texas Rangers at Globe Life Park in Arlington. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

Exciting? You bet it was! And I’m not talking about exciting like a little dust-up amongst players—I’m talking an exciting game of baseball. It was like the tug-of-war game I talked about the other day–only this time when the teams pulled the rope their way, they scored runs. Lots and lots of runs.

Cole Hamels, one of the big jewels in the trade deadline crown, pitched his first game as a Ranger. He was as advertised: an All-Star veteran. For the first two innings anyway. The third inning the Giants hitters turned him into a good old, garden variety major league pitcher. The kind that gives up hits.

Hamels held the Giants hitless through two innings. Brandon Belt, a Texas native, had a bunch of friends and family in the stands. In the third inning he gave them something to cheer about. He led off the inning with a solo homerun. And then the hits just kept coming.

Brandon Crawford followed Belt with a double, Joe Panik doubled Crawford home, and Matt Duffy hit a single, and while the Rangers were trying to sort Panik out, Duffy attempted to make it a double and got caught, ending the inning. At least he got an RBI out of it.

That put the Giants one run over the Rangers who scored two runs in the first. The Giants held the lead until the bottom of the fourth when the Rangers scored one, tying the game. Texas pulled ahead again, scoring two more runs in the sixth, giving them a two run lead.

The Giants scored another run in the seventh, Posey led off the inning with a solo home run, closing the gap from a two run lead to a one run lead. But, of course, Texas would not take it lying down, in the Texas half of the inning, they scored another two runs and stretched it to a three run lead.

The Giants weren’t going to be pushovers either. They had enough magic left in them to score three runs in the eighth–the magic wandoo inning. With two outs, Panik, Duffy and Posey hit doubles–Panik reached on a double, Duffy doubled Panik home, Posey doubled scoring Duffy, and Hunter Pence hit a single plating Posey and tying the game.

And it stayed tied through the tenth inning.

Belt did it, Buster did it, so in the 11th Hunter Pence did too–led off the inning with a solo home run, breaking the tie. Belt did it again–he hit another solo home run, giving the Giants a four home run night, their first of the season. Santiago Casilla kept the Rangers scoreless in the bottom of the inning. The final score was: Giants 9, Rangers 7

The only bad news Saturday was Chris Heston’s outing. it wasn’t his best. He pitched four and 2/3 innings, allowing three runs on seven hits and two walks while striking out two. After that the bullpen took over, seven pitchers shared the remaining pitches.

It was a hard-fought, exciting game.

Next: Mike Leake debuts in rubber match

Aug 2, 2015; Arlington, TX, USA; San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Mike Leake (13) throws a pitch in the second inning against the Texas Rangers at Globe Life Park in Arlington. Mandatory Credit: Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports

Our new starting pitcher, Mike Leake, made his Giants debut against Texas Sunday, and he was impressive. He pitched six and 1/3 solid innings, allowing two runs on one bad pitch with a man on. He looked sharp, but his outing had a couple of trouble spots.

In the first inning, he put away the first two hitters very quickly and the third hitter, on Leake’s sixth pitch, popped the ball up in the infield. Sadly, the ball fell and what should have been the third out became a base hit. The next play ended the same way, and another base runner was on board. Leake struck out the next batter and ended the inning.

The Giants did spring a little leak in the fourth–oh come on, you knew I was going to have to say that sometime, just like last June when I told everyone not to Panik. Leake walked the first two batters in the fourth, but he righted the ship with a  fly out and a double play.

From that point through the top of the sixth, we finally had the old fashioned pitching duel I’d been expecting in both of the first two games. And I hate to say it, just tween you and me, I got a little bored. Ssshh, don’t tell anybody, they’ll take away my Gamer Babe membership card.

Not much happened, then finally in the sixth, the Rangers scored two runs. Sheesh, I wanted something to happen, but not that. The Rangers pitcher kept the Giants scoreless, in fact they were almost hitless until the fifth–Belt reached on an error and Justin Maxwell followed with a base hit.

I waited for that magic to happen in the eighth, but the Rangers shut us down. Ok, maybe they’ll get something going in the ninth, and you know what? They did. Angel Pagan, who has been struggling lately, hit a double and Nori Aoki followed up by taking a walk.

Duffy hit a single, loading the bases and bringing Buster to the plate. This is how they write it for the movies. Buster hit a single, scoring Pagan, and putting the Giants on the board for the first time. Suddenly we had ourselves a game.

Last night’s 11th hour, 11th inning hero, Hunter Pence, was up next and I had incredibly high hopes. What could go wrong? We had one out, the bases were loaded and Hunter was in the game. And then he ground into a double play–ending the rally, the inning, the game. And my hopes. The final score was: Giants 1, Texas 2

That one broke my heart. Raise your hand if your heart was broken too. Now don’t you feel silly sitting in front of your computer, phone, device…whatever with your hand in the air? But seriously, I listened to the post game interviews and as heartbroken as we all are, it’s nothing compared to the way Hunter feels.

But there is good news: it’s baseball! There’s always tomorrow.