Giants 3, Rangers 2
Giants 3, Rangers 2
- Was this the worst loss of the season?
- Recency bias may be at work here, but it sure feels like it.
- Jack Leiter spending the first inning doing a damn good imitation of 2024 Jack Leiter, missing arm side over and over again with his fastball, being unable to locate his offspeed pitches, running up a big pitch count and leaving us feeling fortunate that only one run came across.
- Things were better after that, but between the bunches of pitches thrown in the first and this being the first start back from the blister, Leiter got the hook with one out in the fourth, at 76 pitches.
- Jacob Latz allowed just one one hit in his 1.1 innings of work, but that one hit came in the inning he relieved Leiter, with a runner on third, and resulted in the Giants tying up the score at 2.
- The bullpen kept San Fran off the board until the ninth. I was sure that they were going to score in the seventh inning. Robert Garcia came on in relief of Caleb Boushley with two outs in the inning, gave up a single to Mike Yastrzemski, and then threw away a pickoff throw, allowing the runner to get to third. Willy Adames hit a meek, weak roller on the left side of the infield, and I knew — I knew — it was going to be an infield hit, and the Giants would win 3-2, and the bad pickoff throw would be the cause of the loss.
- But no. Josh Smith charged, scooped, made a great throw to first, and ended the inning. I thought, okay, maybe the Rangers aren’t doomed to lose after all.
- That’s what I get for having hope. As it turned out, the bottom of the seventh was just a foreshadowing of what was to come.
- One pitch from Luke Jackson in the ninth. A roller to the left side of the infield. Jackson grabs it, throws wildly to first. Heliot Ramos goes to second, heads on to third. Jake Burger throws to third to try to get Ramos, and the ball gets away, allowing Ramos to score the winning run.
- It was the second straight 3-2 walkoff loss for the Rangers, the third straight game where the offense scored just two runs. It is maddening, and this team is making me sad.
- What is more frustrating…to see the offense score just a couple of runs on just a few hits, or to see the offense score just a couple of runs on a bunch of hits?
- The Rangers had 10 hits on the day. As if to rub salt in the wound, Joc Pederson and Leody Taveras, the two worst hitters early on, had two hits apiece. Pederson had a leadoff triple in the sixth and couldn’t score, along with a first inning double. Leody had a pair of doubles and didn’t get brought home.
- Jake Burger, off to an awful start, had a double. Marcus Semien, off to an awful start, had the first inning hit that brought Pederson and Burger in for the two runs.
- The rational part of me says that the hits are a good sign, that its progress, that if the team keeps hitting like they did today they will score runs and win games. The irrational part of me says shut up nerd in response.
- Sigh.
- And the season is only a month old. I don’t know if I can handle five more months of this.
- Jack Leiter hit 99.5 mph with his fastball, averaging 97.8 mph. Jacob Latz reached 94.9 mph with his fastball. Caleb Boushley’s sinker reached 93.1 mph. Robert Garcia’s fastball touched 95.1 mph. Chris Martin hit 96.1 mph with his fastball.
- Jake Burger had a 110.1 mph double. Dustin Harris had a 106.4 mph single. Leody Taveras had a 104.9 mph double. Adolis Garcia had a 103.6 mph single. Josh Jung had a 103.0 mph single. Marcus Semien had a 100.7 ground out.
- Home again, home again, jiggity jog. To play the A’s. Yippee.