ARLINGTON, Texas — The Giants’ season is no longer about trying to make the playoffs. That’s been apparent for weeks, but the team’s sell-a-thon ahead of the trade deadline served as the symbolic white flag on the year. For San Francisco, the next two months will not be about the wins and losses, but about answering one question:
Who can help the Giants be competitive in 2027?
A small handful of names are obvious. Most players on the active roster, however, have uncertain futures and are auditioning for a job on next year’s team. The word “opportunity” will become monotonous in the coming weeks, if it hasn’t already, and San Francisco needs to find out who can play. And in Tuesday night’s 5-4 walk-off loss to the Texas Rangers, opportunities were taken.
Bryce Eldridge, swollen thumb and all, delivered a pinch-hit, game-tying, two-run single in the top of the ninth. Osleivis Basabe hit his third home run in his last four games. Blade Tidwell allowed two runs over a career-high five innings and featured a six-pitch mix.
San Francisco entered the top of the seventh inning trailing 2-0, but Basabe changed that with one swing by turning on a 97.1-mph sinker from Chase Silseth and sneaking a game-tying, two-run homer over the left-field fence.
The Rangers retook the lead in the eighth on a two-run double by Ezequiel Duran, but Eldridge notched things right back up at four apiece by sneaking a single through the right side against lefty Jacob Latz. Latz wasn’t just an All-Star this year, entering play with a 1.80 ERA, but the southpaw hadn’t blown a save since May 13.
The good vibes didn’t last long. With two outs in the bottom of the ninth, right fielder Jung Hoo Lee appeared to misread what should’ve been an inning-ending fly out off the bat of Duran. Instead of going to the 10th, the ball landed on the right-field warning track and Texas scored the winning run.
Tidwell’s four-seam fastball averaged 94.7 mph, down from 96.2 mph when he appeared as a reliever earlier this season. Still, Tidwell had enough gas in the tank to end his night strong, his 100th and final pitch clocking in at 95.6 mph.
Tidwell labored through the first inning, allowing two runs and throwing 32 pitches. The Rangers’ Brandon Nimmo drove in the game’s first run on an RBI double, then Duran doubled Texas’ lead to 2-0 with an RBI single. Tidwell developed a rhythm from the second inning onward, allowing just three singles the rest of the way.
One of Tidwell’s best sequences of the night happened with two outs in the bottom of the third. Tidwell fell behind in the count 3-1 to Duran, but got Duran to flail at a sweeper out of the zone for strike two, then locked him up on another sweeper to punch him out.