70-47 - Early hook helps Rangers to series-grabbing win over Giants

The Texas Rangers scored nine runs while the San Francisco Giants scored three runs.

The Rangers have identified that Andrew Heaney is good for about 80 pitches per outing, even when he’s on. Tonight, he clearly wasn’t on so Bruce Bochy bailed on the lefty pretty quickly just four outs into his outing, leaving with the bases loaded with an out in the bottom of the 2nd in a 1-1 game.

Whether it was feeling a little urgency to make the swift decisions to win a ballgame, or Bochy and Mike Maddux just realizing that the bullpen was rested enough to carry the load, whatever the case may be, the moved paid off as Grant Anderson wiggled out of the bases loaded jam with the score still even and a combination of Anderson (2 ²⁄₃), Chris Stratton (3), Josh Sborz (1), and Brock Burke (1) went 7 ²⁄₃ innings with only a couple of solo home runs blemishing the ‘pen’s evening.

Meanwhile, while the Rangers were opting for something akin to an impromptu bullpen game, the bats woke up in a big way with nine runs scored, thanks in part to a nifty 7-for-15 night with runners in scoring position. SF, meanwhile, went 1-for-12 in their RISP chances.

One major sight for sore eyes was Ezequiel Duran going 3-for-4 with a double and a triple and two runs driven in to act as a threat at the bottom of the order as he did for much of the season half.

Player of the Game: It took a long time to go from Ohtani consolation prize to big name prospect to afterthought to org depth to surging performer to big leaguer, but congratulations to JP Martinez for finally collecting his first Major League hit.

Martinez ultimately went 2-for-4 and drove in a run on a sac fly tonight.

Up Next: The Rangers will go for a sweep of the Giants with RHP Dane Dunning expected to pitch for Texas against RHP Logan Webb for San Francisco.

The Sunday afternoon first pitch from Oracle Park is scheduled for 3:05 pm CT and will be broadcast on BS Southwest.