SAN FRANCISCO -- Bruce Bochy received a thunderous ovation from fans in his return to Oracle Park on Friday, drowning out another quiet night for the Giants’ listless offense.
The Giants recorded only three hits in a 2-1 loss to Bochy’s Rangers, which marked their fifth defeat in their last six games.
San Francisco didn’t get on the board until Heliot Ramos smoked a leadoff double off closer Will Smith in the ninth inning, took third on a fielding error by center fielder Leody Taveras and scored on Thairo Estrada’s RBI groundout. The Giants have been held to one run in eight of their last 20 games and have scored only 141 runs since June 22, tied with the A’s for the fewest in the Majors.
Rangers right-hander Jon Gray allowed only two singles over seven shutout innings, and the Giants couldn’t break through against an erratic Aroldis Chapman in the eighth. Patrick Bailey worked an eight-pitch walk and advanced to third on two wild pitches, but Chapman struck out pinch-hitter Mark Mathias and Luis Matos to end the inning.
“I think we’re especially good when we grind pitchers down,” manager Gabe Kapler said. “Gray just filled up the zone with all of his pitches and didn’t give us a chance to go deep into counts. Obviously, he went deep into the game and got to their leverage relievers, and that was it.
“We’re just going to have to be better at grinding down pitchers early in games to get into the middle part of bullpens. What I’ll say is we don’t get there by getting tense. We’re not going to get there by sort of stressing about it. The way to be good in these situations is to just relax more. To swing a little bit easier, to have the intensity in your mind, but not in your body.”
Texas snapped a scoreless tie in the sixth after Nathaniel Lowe and Mitch Garver launched back-to-back home runs off right-hander Ross Stripling, who was charged with the loss despite holding MLB’s top offense to two runs on five hits over five innings. Both of the blasts came on misplaced sliders from Stripling, who has posted a 3.41 ERA in eight outings (six starts) since returning from the injured list.
“It’s a potent offense, for sure,” Stripling said. “I’m happy with the way I threw and happy that as a staff we were able to keep them to just two runs. I do feel like most of the time if you can keep the Rangers to two runs, you’re probably going to beat them. It’s just not the way it went tonight.”
Bochy, who managed his first game at Oracle Park since the 2019 finale, drew a standing ovation during pregame introductions, tipping his cap to the crowd and receiving a hug from Giants mascot Lou Seal. The love fest resumed in the third inning, when the Giants played a tribute video to Bochy that featured highlights from his decorated 13-year run in San Francisco, including the club’s three World Series championships in 2010, '12 and '14.
The likely future Hall of Famer ranks second in franchise history with 1,052 wins, trailing only John McGraw.
“It’s special to be back in this ballpark,” Bochy said. “I can’t say enough about my tremendous time here. I mean, 13 wonderful years. My wife and I had the time of our life here. I lived across the street. Those 13 years impacted me as anytime in baseball. I’m forever grateful and thankful for those years. We had a lot of fun. A lot of great memories. A lot of great celebrations. It’s good to be back.”
The same could be said for Ramos, who delivered one of the lone offensive bright spots with his 112.7 mph double off Smith in the ninth. Ramos, who was recalled from Triple-A Sacramento on Wednesday to fill in for the injured AJ Pollock, has struggled to establish himself with the Giants since debuting last year, but he’s been working on simplifying his swing and was batting .330 with a 1.026 OPS in his previous 28 games with the River Cats.
Kapler noted that this is the first time the Giants have called up Ramos while he’s been in the midst of a hot streak, which seemed to help the 23-year-old outfielder stay relaxed and confident. The rest of the club’s offense could benefit from a similar mindset, as Kapler said he believes the group is beginning to press at the plate.
“We’ve seen this before,” Kapler said. “It’s not surprising that we’re going through a rut in the middle of the season because most teams do. We’ll stay even through it like we always do. This is the right time to relax and know that we have the guys in the room that can get this done.”