Rangers Lose To Giants

{fshare id=6432}

ARLINGTON, Texas — The San Francisco Giants didn’t mind putting a damper on the Texas debut of Cole Hamels.

San Francisco wiped out a three-run deficit in the eighth inning and got homers from right fielder Hunter Pence and first baseman Brandon Belt in the 11th inning to rally for a 9-7 win.

Hamels, who was acquired Friday from Philadelphia in an eight-player trade, was in line for the win before the Giants scored the final five runs.

Pence led off the 11th with his shot off Sam Dyson, who was acquired from Miami at the trade deadline. Two batters later, first baseman Brandon Belt added some insurance with his second homer of the night.

The runs made a winner of Hunter Strickland, the seventh San Francisco pitcher. Santiago Casilla picked up his 27th save.

“The last thing you want to do is lose the first two in a row on a road trip,” said San Francisco manager Bruce Bochy, whose team lost the series opener Friday. “What a great comeback. It was hard-fought on both sides. It was a wild game and our boys kept fighting.”

The Rangers were poised to give Hamels a victory until the Giants scored three times in the eighth to tie it at 7, with all the runs coming with two outs. After Hamels allowed a two-out double to second baseman Joe Panik, he was pulled for Tanner Scheppers.

Texas manager Jeff Banister said he opted to remove Hamels after just 97 pitches because of the week he had been through and the fact that he threw 129 pitches in his last start, a no-hitter for Philadelphia against the Chicago Cubs.

Scheppers allowed three straight hits, with Pence capping the rally with a

tying single to right.

“It was definitely unfortunate,” said Scheppers, who has a 5.66 ERA. “I definitely wanted to go out there and Cole pitched a helluva game, did such a great job, went deep in the ballgame. I just wanted to go in there and get one out and it wasn’t my day.”

San Francisco pounded out 14 hits in the game, with catcher Buster Posey going 3-for-5 with a homer.

“I feel like this is the best big-league team that I’ve ever been a part of over the past five seasons that I’ve been in the big leagues,” Belt said. “We do a great job of staying in there with two outs. I think we feel like the inning’s never over until we get that out.”

Texas gave Hamels plenty of run support. After the Giants scored three times off Hamels in the third to take a 3-2 lead, the Rangers tied the score on a single from catcher Bobby Wilson in the fourth.

Texas then scored twice in the sixth to take a 5-3 lead.

Posey cut the lead to 5-4 with a homer off Hamels in the seventh, but the Rangers countered with two runs in the bottom of the inning, with first baseman Mitch Moreland collecting his third RBI of the night on a sacrifice fly and a second run scoring on an error.

Hamels went 7 2/3 innings, giving up eight hits and five runs in his 97-pitch effort. He also struck out six.

“I got myself in a little trouble and I didn’t slow down the game in the third inning,” Hamels said. “Those guys were jumping all over pitches early and it’s understandable. They’re good hitters and they want to get those runs in as quick as possible. There are certain situations where you have to slow the game down and be a little smarter.”

San Francisco starter Chris Heston surrendered three runs and seven hits in 4 2/3 innings.

Share and Enjoy !

Shares