Field Level Media
Aug 25, 2018
Rougned Odor tied the score with a two-out, two-run home run in the ninth inning, and Robinson Chirinos produced the game-winner with a bases-loaded walk in the 10th, lifting the visiting Texas Rangers to an improbable 7-6 victory over the San Francisco Giants on Friday night.
Chirinos' walk came off the Giants' fifth pitcher, Sam Dyson (3-3), who loaded the bases with a four-pitch walk to the previous hitter, Ronald Guzman.
The walk to Chirinos also came on four straight pitches.
Rangers closer Jose Leclerc retired the Giants in order in the bottom of the 10th, striking out two, for his seventh save, preserving the win for Cory Gearrin (1-0), who worked a scoreless 1 2/3 innings.
The Rangers were down to their last strike, trailing by two, and had no one on base when Shin-Soo Choo reached on second baseman Joe Panik's error in the ninth, setting the stage for Odor's dramatic homer on closer Will Smith's next pitch to forge a 6-6 tie.
The homer was Odor's 16th of the season.
The exciting finish occurred after Andrew McCutchen had ignited a four-run first inning with a leadoff home run and Dereck Rodriguez had returned from the disabled list to throw six strong innings, as the Giants took a 6-0 lead.
Joey Gallo had a big hand in the Texas comeback with his 34th home run of the season in the seventh inning and an RBI single in the eighth.
The Giants jumped on Rangers starter Drew Hutchison in the first inning, with McCutchen hitting the fourth pitch over the fence in left field for his 15th home run of the season.
It was the 10th time in McCutchen's career that he has led off the first inning with a homer.
After a single by Panik and two walks, Evan Longoria made it 2-0 with an RBI single, after which Brandon Crawford and Alen Hanson added consecutive sacrifice flies to make it a four-run inning.
Hutchison hurt himself with two more walks in the fourth, then Buster Posey and Brandon Belt provided RBI singles to increase the lead to 6-0.
Hutchison was pulled after four innings, charged with six runs on seven hits. He walked four and struck out two.
Pitching for the first time against his dad Pudge Rodriguez's former team, Dereck Rodriguez took a no-hitter into the fifth inning before Jurickson Profar led off with a single to center field.
Texas loaded the bases with two outs, and Choo ended Rodriguez's shutout bid with a two-run single.
Rodriguez, who went on the disabled list after injuring his hamstring in an on-field skirmish with the Los Angeles Dodgers earlier this month, was pulled after six innings. He limited the Rangers to two runs and three hits, walking three and striking out four.
Profar scored twice and had three hits for the Rangers, who were coming off a series at nearby Oakland in which they lost two of three.
Odor, Choo and Gallo drove in two runs apiece for Texas, which has won its last two series against the Giants in 2012 and 2015.
McCutchen and Panik each had two hits and scored two runs, while Steven Duggar added a pair of hits for the Giants, who opened a nine-game homestand.
--Field Level Media