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

Jul 31, 2015; Arlington, TX, USA; San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Madison Bumgarner (40) reacts to giving up a home run to Texas Rangers shortstop Elvis Andrus (not pictured) during the game at Globe Life Park in Arlington. The Rangers defeated the Giants 6-3. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

An ace, a magician and the new kid walk into a bar…

Just kidding, but they did take the mound this weekend in Arlington—the historic site of the Giants first World Series win in the San Francisco era.

The ace dropped the first game to the Rangers. I didn’t see that one coming. I’m not sure what I thought was going to happen, but at the very least, I expected a closer game.

I expected more of a pitching duel. Madison Bumgarner was on the mound, and from the beginning, it looked like it was going to be a long, arduous night for our ace. Or a short, ugly one.

For the first two innings, I didn’t even recognize guy on the hill. Then somebody flipped the switch and our ace was back. Bumgarner gave up six runs (two on home runs) on nine hits while striking out eight. All six runs were given up in the first two innings.

When asked about Bumgarner’s rocky start, Alex Pavlovic of CSN Bay Area reported that Bochy said: “That’s why once or twice a year you should be able to get a mulligan and start over.” I’ll vote for that.

One of the basic unwritten rules of winning a baseball game: score early, score often. That’s what Texas did. And what the Giants started to do…just not as much.

In the first inning, Matt Duffy hit a two out single and advanced to third on Buster Posey’s base hit. With Hunter Pence batting, the Texas pitcher tossed a wild pitch and Duffy crossed home plate before the catcher recovered the ball. Really good heads up playing by Duffy.

The second inning started like the first: with two outs. Then Gregor Blanco hit a single and Nori Aoki doubled him home. And doubled the Giants score. Brandon Crawford added on with a solo home run in the ninth.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough, but it put Crawford’s season home run total at 16. He leads the team. And not just the team, he’s the number one home run hitting shortstop in the MLB. The final score was: Giants 3, Rangers 6

There was a little excitement in the fourth, the benches cleared, but no punches were thrown, and it was really much ado about nothing. Both teams were warned and everyone went back to their benches, duly warned.

The game finished without further incident.

Next: The Magic Man took on Texas next