Giants rookie Blade Tidwell allowed two runs in the first inning but shut out the Rangers over the next four during Tuesday’s game in Arlington, Texas.
Tony Gutierrez/Associated Press
The Giants’ Osleivis Basabe celebrates after hitting a two-run home run in the seventh inning against the Texas Rangers in Arlington, Texas, on Tuesday.
Tony Gutierrez/Associated Press
San Francisco Giants third baseman Christian Koss reaches up to catch a pop-out by Texas Rangers’ Evan Carter in the first inning Tuesday in Arlington, Texas.
Tony Gutierrez/Associated Press
ARLINGTON, Texas — Before Tuesday’s game against the Rangers, Bryce Eldridge was asked about now being one of eight San Francisco Giants rookies. He thought about it for a beat, and first expressed gratitude to the six big-league players dealt away at the trade deadline, necessitating an influx of young players.
Then, Eldridge said, “It’s great. It feels like we’re playing for the San Francisco River Kitties now.”
Eldridge, who wasn’t in the lineup for the second game in a row because of a bruised left thumb, then came through with a game-tying pinch-hit single in the ninth. The Rangers, however, responded with a run in the ninth when right fielder Jung Hoo Lee appeared to get a little turned around on Ezequiel Duran’s two-out flyball to the track and it dropped to send in the winning run, Texas prevailing 5-4.
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Manager Tony Vitello said that Lee had to position himself to be able to get off a good throw with a runner at second.
“I thought off the bat it had a chance to leave the park, so he did what he needed to do on the break,” Vitello said. “He just didn’t finish the catch, but I think it’s all about having to throw that runner out.”
That’s postgame housekeeping but the main considerations from here out will revolve around how the Giants’ younger group performs, with baseball’s now third-youngest team sifting through any number of options the final two months. That ninth inning, with 21-year-old Eldridge coming through, included hits from Drew Gilbert and Grant McCray, also hopefuls for more regular playing time.
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San Francisco
AB
R
H
BI
BB
SO
Avg.
Totals
33
4
6
4
5
8
Basabe 2b-3b-2b
5
1
1
2
0
0
.294
Lee rf
5
0
1
0
0
0
.305
Adames ss
4
0
1
0
0
2
.222
Devers 1b
3
0
0
0
1
1
.246
Susac c
4
0
1
0
0
1
.257
Kennedy dh-3b
3
0
0
0
1
2
.050
Leonard lf
2
0
0
0
0
1
.000
a-Gilbert ph-cf
1
2
1
0
1
0
.242
McCray cf-lf
2
1
0
0
2
1
.120
Koss 3b
2
0
0
0
0
0
.167
b-Furman ph-2b
1
0
0
0
0
0
.000
d-Eldridge ph
1
0
1
2
0
0
.256
Smith p
0
0
0
0
0
0
—
Texas
AB
R
H
BI
BB
SO
Avg.
Totals
37
5
11
5
4
5
Pederson 1b
3
1
0
0
1
0
.250
Burger 1b
1
1
1
0
0
0
.237
Langford lf
4
1
0
0
1
0
.264
Seager dh
4
2
3
0
1
0
.201
Nimmo rf
5
0
3
1
0
1
.271
Duran 3b
5
0
3
4
0
1
.278
Carter cf
4
0
0
0
0
0
.201
Díaz c
3
0
0
0
1
0
.240
Lopez ss
4
0
1
0
0
1
.276
Foscue 2b
2
0
0
0
0
2
.252
c-Osuna ph
1
0
0
0
0
0
.255
Cauley 2b
1
0
0
0
0
0
.208
San Francisco
000
000
202_4
6
0
Texas
200
000
021_5
11
0
Two outs when winning run scored.
a-walked for Leonard in the 7th. b-grounded out for Koss in the 7th. c-lined out for Foscue in the 7th. d-singled for Furman in the 9th.
LOB: San Francisco 7, Texas 10. 2B: Susac (8), Lee (26), Nimmo (27), Duran 2 (22), Burger (17). HR: Basabe (3), off Silseth. RBIs: Basabe 2 (8), Eldridge 2 (28), Nimmo (41), Duran 4 (63). SB: Duran (9), Gilbert (1).
Runners left in scoring position: San Francisco 2 (Koss, Susac); Texas 4 (Díaz 2, Cauley 2). RISP: San Francisco 2 for 9; Texas 5 for 12.
Runners moved up: Furman.
IP
H
R
ER
BB
SO
NP
ERA
5
6
2
2
1
3
100
3.18
1
0
0
0
0
0
5
5.06
1
0
1
1
1
0
15
3.17
3
1
1
1
1
14
7.71
0
0
0
0
0
2
4.70
2
1
1
1
1
14
3.10
IP
H
R
ER
BB
SO
NP
ERA
6
3
0
0
3
4
99
4.55
1
2
2
1
0
14
3.05
1
0
0
0
0
2
13
4.37
0
0
0
0
1
4
3.50
1
2
2
1
1
1
24
1.94
Inherited runners-scored: Sanmartin 1-1, Houser 3-0. IBB: off Sanmartin (Díaz), off Smith (Seager). PB: Díaz (0).
ABS Challenge: McCray (Strike-Overturned to Ball); Devers (Strike-Overturned to Ball); Tidwell (Ball-Overturned to Strike); Foscue (Strike-Confirmed); Adames (Strike-Confirmed).
Pitch timer violations: Sanmartin (pitcher); Smith (pitcher).
Umpires: Home, Adrian Johnson; First, Louie Krupa; Second, Adam Beck; Third, Dan Iassogna.
T: 2:55. A: 26,959 (40,000).
“They’re three young guys and it’s all left-on-left,” Vitello said approvingly of that inning, adding the Rangers “kind of had it set up the way they wanted but I just think it speaks to the effort — we’re not interested in consolation prizes or bronze medals or anything like that but I think the whole game the effort was there out of everybody.”
Tuesday’s top job contestant was Blade Tidwell, auditioning for the rotation after spending the past three months at Triple-A Sacramento. After allowing two runs in the first inning, the 25-year-old righted things and didn’t allow a man in scoring position the rest of his five-inning outing.
“I didn’t come out the way I wanted to, I don’t want to be the five-and-dive guy, but I think I bounced back and battled there after the first inning,” Tidwell said, crediting rookie catcher Daniel Susac for getting him back on the right track.
The rotation has a vague outline right now: Logan Webb, Landen Roupp, Tidwell, Carson Whisenhunt (who starts Wednesday) and Adrian Houser, probably with an opener — but wait, Houser wound up getting the Giants out of the eighth inning, taking over for Reiver Sanmartin and getting a groundout. Does Houser go Friday at home against Detroit, which certainly would be possible after throwing two pitches Tuesday? Or does Landen Roupp just stay on turn given Thursday’s off-day?
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It’s easy to imagine there will be other permutations of this group, but Tidwell has, at the least, earned himself a longer look after his solid work Tuesday.
The bullpen is a mystery — asked about how things might look in the late innings, Vitello said, “interesting!”
Rookie Dylan Smith got the call with the game tied in the ninth and gave up a first-pitch double by Jake Burger; Smith nearly got out of that sticky situation, with Duran’s catchable flyball.
Some of the young starters above might find themselves in relief eventually. The best bet is that the Giants look to free agency to rebuild this unit, but the looming potential lockout muddies that picture. Anyone who gets any shot there now would be well-advised to make their best possible push for a reliever spot now.
Vitello relates to the eight rookies. He’s sort of the ninth rookie. Before Tuesday’s game, he said he got all the “fresh faces together to kind of get on the same page for what we’re looking for.
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“The one thing about these new guys is there’s a little bit of a tendency to impress too much and there’s also a tendency to not want to step on anybody’s toes. And I’m the new guy — I think you’ve got to find that range in the middle or maybe even outside of that entire equation, and just be who you are.”
Vitello said shortstop Willy Adames’ advice to all the young players was “just to make sure you play the game the right way.”
“I don’t think there’s any one clear definition” of that, Vitello said, “but everyone knows what it looks like.”
Adames, the old sage at 30, provided the game’s highlight on defense, leaping high for a liner by Nicky Lopez in the seventh. “Willy jumped 8 feet off the ground for that,” Vitello said.
Buddy Kennedy, back with the organization after a five-week stay with Seattle and at DH Tuesday, is not a rookie but is a player hungry for an opportunity after bouncing around seven organizations, eight if you count both stints with San Francisco.
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He’s glad to be back with many familiar faces from Sacramento and the Giants, and he’s all in on seeing how far the youth movement can go. He was enthusiastic about the message Vitello delivered lumping himself in with the rest of the first-year crowd.
“We’ve got all August, all September left, we’re going to play fun baseball and see what it puts us at the end,” Kennedy said. “You never know what can happen, right? Don’t take each day for granted, and overall, just really enjoy each other and push each other forward.”
Second baseman Osleivis Basabe, with all of 36 big-league games under his belt, hit his third homer in four starts with San Francisco, as his two-run shot in the seventh tied things 2-2. Sanmartin, just up Monday and in the lefty reliever spot left open when Erik Miller went to Boston, allowed Duran’s opposite-field two-run double in the eighth inning.
Other news from the youth movement: Kennys Leonard made his big-league debut, batting seventh and playing left, and when he took the field in the first inning, he did a little shuffle backwards with a huge grin on his face, thrilled to be in the majors after a nine-year wait in the minors. He went 0-for-2.