Texas Rangers starter Cody Bradford throws to the San Francisco Giants line up in the top sixth inning at Globe Life Field in Arlington on Wed Aug 4, 2026 (AP News photo)
By Barbara Mason
In an early afternoon matchup, the San Francisco Giants (48-67) lost a tough one Wednesday to the Texas Rangers (57-58) in game three of their series in a shutout. Two lefties took the mound, the Giants Carson Whisenhunt and the Rangers Cody Bradford.
Whisenhunt was looking for a quality start. Whisenhunt pitched 8.1 allowed five hits and four runs. Bradford 4.1 pitched 4.1 innings of shutout ball allowing five hits.
Through two innings the game remained scoreless. It all changed in the third inning when the Rangers were able to score three runs taking a 4-0 lead into the fourth inning.
San Francisco was again trailing early digging a pretty deep hole. The Rangers would add one more run, a solo home run off the bat of Brandon Nimmo for a 5-0 advantage. The hits just kept on coming for the Rangers scoring in the bottom of the eighth looking for a 6-0 shutout in the top of the ninth.
The final was indeed the shutout 6-0 and the series loss the Giants playing a real lackluster low energy game.
GAME RECAP
In the first inning both teams had a couple of runners on base but the game remained scoreless. San Francisco’s Eddys Leonard doubled in the second inning but was the only runner in the inning to get on base. Whisenhunt went three and out in a nice inning.
The third inning saw a breakthrough turnaround for the Rangers. The Giants went three and out in the inning but the Rangers turned on the heater in a huge bottom of the third. With two outs Texas went to work taking Whisenhunt apart.
The Rangers had four straight two out hits. After Wyatt Langford doubled, Brandon Nimmo singled followed by a Jake Burger single. The Nimmo single brought Langford home for a 1-0 lead. A Justin Foscue triple drove in Nimmo and Burger extending their lead to 3-0.
Texas would tack on one moe run to end the inning leading 4-0. The hits just kept on coming for Texas as Elias Diaz doubled Foscue home for the final run of the inning. The Giants were looking at a pretty significant deficit.
It was another frustrating at bat for the Giants in the fourth inning leaving two runners stranded. Whisenhunt remained in the game for the bottom of the fourth after the shaky third inning. He got the first at bat out but walked Evan Carter precipitating a change on the mound for San Francisco.
Seymour would relieve Whisenhunt after 4 1/3 innings. He has a 5-2 win/loss record and a 3.79 ERA. He got the Giants out of the inning when Ezequiel Duran hit into a double play.
San Francisco got something going in the top of the fifth innings hitting two singles, the first off the bat of Drew Cavanaugh and the second off Jung Hoo Lee. With two runners on base and only one out, there was a change on the mound for the Rangers.
Tyler Alexander would relieve Cody Bradford after a pretty decent outing for Bradford. Alexander would face Willy Adames striking him out for the second out. Rafael Devers grounded out and mid-way through the game San Francisco badly needed to get some runs up on the board.The Rangers created an even wide gap in the bottom of the fifth. Brandon Nimmo hit a solo home run giving Texas a 5-0 lead.
There was nothing going on for the Giants in the top of the sixth or seventh innings. They had two runners on base in the eighth but left them stranded. They had been able to keep the Rangers from doing any more damage but despite seven hits in the game San Francisco had been unable to score any runs. They were three outs away from losing the game and the series.
Drew Cavanaugh did double in the ninth inning but with two outs Texas relief pitcher Cole Winn closed out the game. San Francisco had won the first game of this series but ended up losing the series dropping games two and three.
GAME NOTES
San Francisco had seven hits in the game the Rangers with nine yet a lopsided 8-0 final score pointing to timely hits by Texas and there were also five walks in the game which did not help. The four run third inning was the culprit that turned this game in favor of the Rangers.
The San Francisco offense did have those seven hits but could not string hits together leaving runners stranded throughout the game. The Giants also had some errors that led to two unearned runs. This was just a difficult game for San Francisco getting outplayed in every phase of the ball game offensively and defensively.
It was a tough outing for Whisenhunt who pitched only 3 1/3 innings not able to go deep in the game. He allowed five hits, four earned runs, three walks with four strikeouts setting the stage for the Rangers shut-out.
The Rangers starter Cody Bradford pitched 4 1/3 innings allowing five hits, no runs, two walks with five strikeouts. The Texas bullpen finished off San Francisco pretty easily.
The Giants will now head home for a series with the Detroit Tigers over the weekend. Keider Montero will take the mound for the Tigers with a 8-6 win/loss record and a 3.17 ERA. Right now the Giants are undecided as to who will pitch Friday night. First pitch for game one is scheduled for 7:15 PM.
