Giants Step on Rangers in Series Opener

(Photo by Ron Jenkins/Getty Images)

June 7, 2024

Giants 5, Rangers 2

ARLINGTON, Tex. (Jun. 7) — The Texas Rangers dropped to 30–33 after losing their series opener to the San Francisco Giants, 5–2, on Friday night in front of a crowd of 35,868. A two-homer night for Wilmer Flores was the difference maker for the Giants in this cat-and-mouse game. The Rangers will have a chance to even things up in this three-game set on Saturday evening with first pitch scheduled for 3:05 pm Central at Globe Life Field. The Giants have yet to announce their starting pitcher for that contest, while the Rangers will send left-hander Andrew Heaney (2–6, 3.99 ERA) to the bump.

Flores Does a Double-Take

The Giants scored first in the top of the second against Michael Lorenzen. Jorge Soler grounded to third to get the inning started. On deck was Flores, who took Lorenzen deep to left-center for his fourth homer of the year. This put the Giants ahead, 1–0. Fast forward to the fourth, where Flores led off with his second solo shot of the evening. This one found its way to the seats in left, and there was quite a scramble amongst the fans to get their hands on both souvenirs that Flores hit.

The Rangers responded in the bottom of the fifth off Giants starter Logan Webb. Nathaniel Lowe led off the frame with a single to left. Wyatt Langford doubled moments later, advancing Lowe to third in the process. Robbie Grossman sent Lowe home with a sacrifice fly to right. On the next pitch, Langford raced home with the tying run thanks to a single to center by Ezequiel Duran.

Giants Take Late Lead

Things stayed quiet until the top of the seventh when David Robertson entered the game in relief of Jonathan Hernandez. After a groundout to third by Patrick Bailey, Robertson issued a free pass to Matt Chapman. On deck was Michael Conforto, who blasted a two-run bomb to right-center to give the Giants a 4–2 lead. They stretched it to 5–2 in the top of the eighth off reliever Grant Anderson. A single to center by Thairo Estrada got things started. Brett Wisely followed that up by drawing a walk. Moments later, Estrada scored from second on a single to center by Heliot Ramos.

What Went Right for the Giants

The Giants had several opportunities to push runs across the plate on Friday. The big highlight for them was the two dingers to left by Flores. Sometimes it doesn’t matter where a player hits in the lineup. Any time a player hits two homers in one game, it’s a real boost for the club. On this particular evening, Flores was penciled into the sixth spot on manager Bob Melvin’s lineup card. Offense can come from anywhere. They also had some good pitching on display. Rangers hitters went 0 for their last 13 at-bats against a lights-out Giants bullpen.

What Went Wrong for the Giants

For the most part, the Giants were well in control for the evening. They surrendered the tying runs in the fifth on Grossman’s sacrifice fly and Duran’s RBI single.

Tough Luck for Lorenzen

Upon receiving no run support yet again, Rangers starter Michael Lorenzen did not factor into the decision after allowing two runs, both earned, over a season-low 4 1/3 innings. His final line was 4 1/3 IP, 7 H, 2 R-ER, 2 BB, 1 K, 89 pitches/56 strikes. Both runs came via the solo shots surrendered to Flores. Friday’s start snapped a career-best streak of eight straight starts with six-plus innings pitched, the longest such run by a Rangers pitcher since Martin Perez from 4/23-6/5/22 (9).

Lorenzen has gone 3–3 with a 3.05 ERA with 45 strikeouts against 28 walks in 10 starts for the Rangers in 2024, the most innings by any pitcher over his first 10 outings with the Rangers since Jordan Montgomery in 2023 (61 2/3 IP). Robertson took the loss after tossing 2/3 of an inning in the sixth in which he gave up the Giants’ last two runs. He also walked one and struck out one. His record is now 2–3 with an ERA of 3.41.

Webb Climbs to .500

Giants starter Logan Webb earned his fifth win after permitting two runs, both earned, through seven innings. His line was 7 IP, 5 H, 2R-ER, 0 BB, 6 K. Webb leads the majors with eight starts of seven or more innings pitched. He surrendered both runs in the bottom of the fifth on back-to-back RBI plate appearances by Grossman and Duran. Webb has fanned a minimum of five batters in each of his last six starts. His record for 2024 now sits at 5–5 with an ERA of 2.92. After pitching a spotless ninth with one strikeout, right-hander Camilo Doval earned his tenth save of the season.

Postgame Comments

Rangers manager Bruce Bochy gave his overall thoughts on the game, starting with Webb. “Logan’s tough,” said Bochy. “He’s tough on a lot of teams. I thought the guys did a good job. They came back and tied the game. We got some men on base there, we just couldn’t get another hit. They battled and Lorenzen kept us in the game.” Next, he focused on the runs that his team put on the board. “Wyatt (Langford) is fun to watch,” Bochy said of the fifth inning.

“It’s exciting how he’s so aggressive on the bases. He’s got great instincts out there and he knew he could get to second and got it standing up. He put us in a great situation there. Robbie had a productive out, big bat there to give us a run and to get a man on third with one out. So we did have some good things happen tonight.”

Finally, he talked about the swings that he saw from his team. “You want these guys to be aggressive,” Bochy said. “There’s a fine line there, because we are looking to hit the ball hard too, you know, catch it on the barrel. It’s hard to do with the stuff that [Webb] has out there, you understand that. You figure you need to keep it a close ballgame when you’re going against somebody like Webb.”