Texas Rangers’ Mitch Garver who had three RBIs against the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park in San Francisco on Sat Aug 12, 2023 (USA Today photo)

Saturday, Aug. 12, 2023

Oracle Park

San Francisco, California

Texas Rangers 9 (70-47)

San Francisco Giants 2 (62-55)

Win: Grant Anderson (2-1)

Loss: Alex Cobb (6-3)

Time: 2:44

Attendance: 33,112

By Stephen Ruderman

The Giants’ offense sputtered again, as Rangers beat the Giants on 90s night at Oracle park, 9-3, to hand the Giants their fourth-straight loss, and their sixth loss in their last seven games.

Alex Cobb, who has struggled in the second half since his All-Star Game appearance, made the start for the Giants, and his struggles continued. Cobb got Marcus Semien to fly out to left field to start the game, but Corey Seager then hit a home run to straightaway center to put the Rangers on the board.

The Giants responded in the bottom of the first inning. Rangers starter Andrew Heaney set down the first two men he faced, but Wilmer Flores doubled, and Patrick Bailey singled him in, as the throw from Rangers left-fielder J.P. Martinez appeared as if it was going to get Flores at the plate, but it skipped in front of the catcher, Mitch Garver, which allowed Flores to score.

Cobb survived a two-out double in the top of the second, and the Giants appeared as if they were going to strike in the bottom of the second. Luis Matos walked to start the inning, and got to third on a long single off the right field wall by Michael Conforto.

Heliot Ramos then walked to load the bases with nobody out, but Mark Mathias struck out swinging, and Bruce Bochy surprisingly pulled Heaney from the game for Grant Anderson. Anderson then got Austin Slater to ground into a 3-6-1 double play to end the inning, as it was another opportunity wasted by the Giants.

The teams traded scoreless innings again in the third, as Cobb pitched a 1-2-3 inning, and Anderson pitched through a leadoff infield hit by Thairo Estrada.

Alex Cobb then faltered in the fourth. Nathaniel Lowe led off the inning with a base-hit, followed by an infield hit off the bat of Ardolis Garcia. Garver then singled to knock in Lowe and give the Rangers the lead, and Martinez singled to load the bases. Ezequiel Duran hit a sacrifice fly to center; Josh Smith walked; and Leody Tavares singled to knock in the third run of the inning and extend the Rangers lead to 4-1.

Michael Conforto hit a solo home run with one out in the bottom of the fourth to make it 4-2, but the Rangers loaded the bases with one out in the top of the fifth, and that prompted Gabe Kapler to pull Alex Wood.

In his last five starts since July 20 in Cincinnati, Wood has gone 0-2 with a 6.58 ERA, as he has given up 19 runs over his last 26 innings.

“I don’t think it was his best outing, obviously,” said Kapler. “He’s the guy that we’re always depending on. He’s been one of our best pitchers. He’s done a really nice job for us all season. I don’t think it was his best outing, and [hopefully, he can] come back next time and get em.”

Kapler went to Alex Wood, who was coming off a decent four-inning performance on Tuesday against the Angels in Anaheim. J.P. Martinez hit a sacrifice fly to center to knock in Seager and get the run back, and Ezequil Duran singled in Adolis Garcia for an extra run to open their lead to 6-2.

Blake Sabol pinch-hit and walked, and advanced to second on a base-hit by Thairo Estrada to start the bottom of the fifth. Bochy then went to former Giant Chris Stratton, and like the second, the Giants wasted the opportunity, as Stratton set down the next three men in order.

Luis Matos singled to start the bottom of the sixth after a ground ball off his bat took a weird hop off the lip of the infield grass and ricocheted into left field. Michael Conforto walked, and just like the second and fifth, the Giants had two runners on and nobody out to start the inning, but just like the second and fifth, the Giants wasted it and had nothing to show for it.

“We haven’t been as productive as we can be, whether we have the platoon advantages, or we don’t,” said Kapler. “We’re not swinging the bat[s] consistently to put up crooked numbers. We didn’t play good enough as a team; [the Rangers] played very good as a team, and we just weren’t able to counter that.”

Alex Wood meanwhile set down eight-straight following the Duran base-hit in the fifth. Wood pitched a pair of 1-2-3 innings in the sixth and seventh, and he survived a one-out triple off the bat of Duran unscathed in the top of the eighth.

“We had a decent thought that Alex could give us some length today,” said Kapler. “I thought he did a nice job of getting us through the middle innings. It’s not easy to come into that situation; I thought he did a good job.”

Stratton pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the seventh, and Josh Sborz pitched a 1-2-3 bottom of the eighth.

Wood then fell apart in the top of the ninth. Despite Wood’s solid innings, the Rangers made hard contact off him, but he finally paid for it in the ninth. Marcus Semien tripled to start the ninth, and he scored on a base-hit by Seager.

Nathaniel Lowe hit a nubber on the first base side, and when Webb went to get it, he fired it down the right field line, allowing the runners to get to second and third. Garcia flew out to right, but Mitch Garver singled in a pair to make it a laugher.

“I certainly wasn’t expecting to throw four-plus, five innings,” said Wood. “[I’m] just trying to go do what’s best for these guys in the clubhouse.”

There was a highlight in the bottom of the ninth, as with one out, Heliot Ramos, who has struggled over the course of two seasons between the majors and Triple-A, hit his first big league home run out to left-center field. Fortunately for Ramos, he was able to get the ball

“I got [the ball] right here,” said Ramos. “I gave up a bat, and two signed. I’m glad [the fan] brought it back. I thought I was going to lose the ball.”

Mark Mathias singled to left, but Blake Sabol was called out on strikes, and Thairo Estrada struck out swinging to end it.

The Giants have now lost four-straight, and six of their last seven, as they fall to 62-55, and their playoff lead in the wild card is now just a game and a half over the Cincinnati Reds.

The Giants will try to salvage a game in the series, as they will send their ace, Logan Webb, to the mound for a 1:05 start.

News and Notes:

Prior to the game, six members of the 1993 Giants gathered for the 30-year reunion of the improbable Giants team that won 103 games, but missed out on the National League West division title in playoffs in what was the final season of the four-team playoff format.

They were joined by the wives of the late Barney Nugent and Rod Beck, and the ceremony was emceed by the Giants’ public address announcer from 1993 to 1999, Sherry Davis, the first woman public address announcer in sports history. This was Davis’ first public appearance since her tenure ended, as well as her first time on the field at Oracle Park.

“These are my guys,” said Davis. “They’re so sweet, and they’re so nice. It’s so nice to see them again after all this time.

Davis also talked about the stress of her first year of 1993.

“It was the most exciting year [of my career], but it was also the most stressful,” Davis said. “I faced a lot of opposition, but I [had] a lot of support. It was a very stressful year for me, but it was wonderful. I wouldn’t change it for the world.”