Ezequiel Duran will look to enhance his growing reputation as a Giants killer when the Texas Rangers complete a three-game series against San Francisco on Wednesday at Arlington, Texas.
Duran delivered a go-ahead two-run double in the eighth inning and game-winning two-bagger in the ninth as the Rangers beat the Giants 5-4 on Tuesday. He has gone 7-for-9 with a homer and five RBIs as the teams split the first two games of the set.
“Zeke Duran, what a couple games he’s had,” Rangers manager Skip Schumaker said. “What a year he’s had. That was a fantastic fight back and a really good game for him.”
The stellar performances continue Duran’s startling run of production against the Giants: 17-for-31 (.548) with 11 RBIs in eight career games.
More important to Duran was delivering when the team needed big hits.
“I feel pretty good,” he said. “Everybody is doing an amazing job. We’re trying to go 100% every time and just win games.”
The Tuesday victory halted a season-worst six-game slide for the Rangers.
Before scoring two runs in the first inning, Texas had gone 40 innings without holding a lead, dating back to Thursday against the Tampa Bay Rays.
Schumaker was paying close attention in the dugout as the Giants scored twice in the top of the ninth to tie the score. He saw the attitudes stay high before Duran’s winning double, which came on a ball hit over the head of right fielder Jung Hoo Lee, who fell on the warning track as the ball landed to his left.
“I’m glad we won the game,” Schumaker said. “A lot of things happened to where you could have gone, ‘Here we go again. We’re in a losing streak and finding ways to lose.’ That could have been the assumption in the dugout, but it wasn’t. That was really encouraging.”
Corey Seager had his first three-hit game of the season for the Rangers, inching his batting average up to .201. He was playing in his fifth game since returning from a back injury.
The Giants lost for the fourth time in five games.
Bryce Eldridge hit a tying two-run single in the ninth for San Francisco. Osleivis Basabe belted a two-run homer, and he has gone deep three times in six games since being promoted from Triple-A Sacramento.
San Francisco third baseman Matt Chapman (abdominal injury) has missed the past five weeks and could end up undergoing season-ending surgery.
Giants manager Tony Vitello said Chapman would visit a specialist in Philadelphia.
Chapman is batting .235 with seven homers and 42 RBIs in 84 games this season.
Left-hander Carson Whisenhunt (2-2, 6.63 ERA) will try to secure a series victory for the struggling Giants.
Whisenhunt, 25, has given up 10 runs in 8 1/3 innings while losing his past two outings. He yielded four runs and five hits while falling to the Los Angeles Dodgers on July 26, then permitted six runs and seven hits over 3 1/3 innings against the San Diego Padres on Friday.
“Obviously, he stepped up, he got a couple chances,” Vitello said of Whisenhunt, who likely will receive a long look the rest of the season.
Whisenhunt will be making his 10th career appearance (all starts) and first against the Rangers.
Left-hander Cody Bradford will start Wednesday for Texas in his first major league appearance since 2024. He missed last season with an elbow injury and underwent Tommy John surgery 13-plus months ago.
Bradford, 28, made five minor league rehab starts — three for Double-A Frisco, two for Triple-A Red Rock — and had a 2.25 ERA over 12 innings.
Bradford went 10-6 with a 4.28 ERA in 34 appearances (21 starts) with the Rangers in 2023 and ’24. He has never faced San Francisco.
–Field Level Media
