A ninth-inning San Francisco Giants rally vanished when a red-hot Ezequiel Duran secured a Texas Rangers walk-off victory.
The San Francisco Giants fell to 48-66 after dropping a game to the Texas Rangers, 5-4.
The Rangers were in a unique position at the trade deadline, but ultimately they decided to lay low and not do anything too crazy.
For a team that's not competing for a division title, it was great to see the Giants take game one, and they had a chance to win last night as well, or at least take it into extra innings.
San Francisco faced an early 2-0 deficit just one inning into the game. They tied things up in the seventh, but immediately allowed the Rangers to plate two more runners in the bottom of the eighth.
The Giants trailed, 4-2, heading into the ninth inning. San Francisco managed to score two runs themselves, only for Dylan Smith to fall to 0-4 on the year as he allowed the game-winning run to score with two outs.
It's hard to say the Giants are enduring heartbreaking losses knowing this season is a lost cause, but this game felt winnable, and it was at least great to see them put up a fight down the stretch.
Smith was one strike away
Instead of keeping Adrian Houser in the game, a former starter who threw just two pitches to get out of Reiver Sanmartin's jam, manager Tony Vitello decided he'd look to Smith in the ninth inning.
The 26-year-old didn't enter in a save situation, but for what it's worth, he only has one save this year.
Smith, who has six holds this season, has now picked up a loss in two of his last three appearances. The Alabama native allowed Jake Burger to double on the first pitch he saw, but then he recorded a pair of outs after pitching around Wyatt Langford.
Sadly, Smith ran into a red-hot Ezequiel Duran. The Dominican Republic native went 3-for-5 in this game and drove in four of the Rangers' five runs. In a 2-2 count, he crushed what would've been a ground rule double, but ultimately that didn't matter as Burger scored to end the game.
Bryce Eldridge tied it up in the ninth
When focusing on the top half of the ninth, the Giants got a single and walk against Jacob Latz, which set up Bryce Eldridge's two-RBI single to right field. Eldridge won a five-pitch battle, but Latz would retire the next two batters on a combined six pitches, ending any thoughts the Giants had of taking the lead.
These two teams will meet in the rubber match before San Francisco enjoys a day off on Thursday, Aug. 6. After that, they return home for a nine-game, 10-day homestand.
