Mauricio Dubon concluded a tense eight-pitch at-bat with a two-out, tie-breaking single in a two-run seventh inning Monday night, sending the San Francisco Giants to a 3-1 victory over the visiting Texas Rangers.
Left-hander Alex Wood (4-0) combined with two relievers on a six-hitter, helping deliver the Giants to their third win in four games outings on the current five-game homestand.
Right-hander Kyle Gibson matched Wood pitch-for-pitch through six innings in the interleague matchup before turning over a 1-1 tie to the Texas bullpen.
Reliever John King (4-2) retired the first two Giants he faced in the seventh before walking pinch-hitter Austin Slater. A single by another pinch-hitter, Darin Ruf, put two on for Dubon, who was sent up as the Giants’ third straight pinch hitter, replacing Mike Tauchman.
After taking a ball, Dubon fouled off five straight pitches and then took a second ball before sending his go-ahead single to left field, scoring Slater.
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The Giants added to their lead when Rangers third baseman Charlie Culberson committed a throwing error on Mike Yastrzemski’s grounder, scoring Ruf.
Tyler Rogers and Jake McGee took it from there, combining to retire six of the eight batters they faced. McGee worked the ninth inning, earning his ninth save in 10 chances by getting Culberson to pop out with the potential tying runs on the bases.
Wood went seven innings, allowing one run and four hits. He walked three and struck out seven.
The Rangers’ only run off Wood came in the fifth inning, after the Giants had taken a 1-0 lead in the fourth on Brandon Belt’s eighth homer of the season.
Khris Davis tripled to lead off the fifth and scored the game-tying run on a single by Culberson.
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Gibson’s numbers for six innings were nearly identical to Wood’s for seven. He also was charged with one run on four hits. He walked two and struck out six.
Davis finished as the game’s only multi-hit player with two.
The game featured a total of just 12 hits, equally split, four of which went for extra bases. Yastrzemski had a double for the Giants, while Nate Lowe had one for the Rangers, who had won five of their previous six games.
–Field Level Media