Winning Rangers debut for Hamels slips away
Cole Hamels wasn’t great but wasn’t awful Saturday night in his Texas Rangers debut, but manager Jeff Banister thought the left-hander had taken his new team far enough — even though he probably had enough left to get the last out of the eighth inning.
Hamels must have had more left after 97 pitches than Tanner Scheppers did on a full tank.
Alas, Hamels had to sit and watch a winning debut slip away as the San Francisco Giants scored three times in the eighth against Scheppers and went ahead in the 11th on a homer by former Arlington resident Hunter Pence en route to a 9-7 victory.
Pence found the seats in left field off newcomer Sam Dyson, acquired Friday from Miami at the trade-deadline buzzer. Dyson ended up with the loss, though it was Scheppers who effectively lost the game in the eighth.
It was a disappointing end to a seven-game stretch for Hamels that started with a no-hitter July 25 at Wrigley Field on 129 pitches, the framework of an eight-player trade with Philadelphia being completed Wednesday, 24 hours of uncertainty Thursday and a busy travel day Friday.
Those factors were all part of the decision to remove him in the eighth inning.
“Coming off the no-hitter, the volume of pitches he threw in the no-hitter, everything swirling around the trade and the travel, I really felt like he threw the ball well,” Banister said. “All factors involved really.”
Hamels allowed five runs in 7 2/3 innings a day after arriving from Philadelphia. He extended his hitless streak to 35 batters before Brandon Belt opened the third with a home run to jump-start a three-run second.
The Giants collected eight hits against Hamels, including a solo shot by Buster Posey in the seventh, but Hamels worked quickly and seemed in control even during the Giants’ rally in the third, after Posey’s homer and in the eighth after a Joe Panik double brought Banister from the dugout.
Hamels backed his new manager.
“All of us, in this situation, we always want to go as long as we possibly can,” Hamels said. “But we have to understand the game and we have to be smart, and with all the pitching changes there’s a lot of down time. I respect the decision and understand it.”
Scheppers entered and allowed three straight hits, a double by Matt Duffy, a bloop double by Posey and a single by Pence that turned a 7-4 lead into a tie game.
“I thought he made a good pitch to Pence,” Banister said. “We really felt like Schepp made some good pitches and just came out on the wrong end.”
The Rangers’ offense stalled out, with Giants relievers recording 12 straight outs before Rougned Odor singled with two outs in the 11th.
Belt followed Pence with his second homer of the game as the Giants snapped the Rangers’ three-game winning streak. The 41,114 who watched and the 25 players in the Rangers’ clubhouse know it should have been a fourth straight win.
Mitch Moreland drove in three runs, Prince Fielder collected three hits and Bobby Wilson, claimed on waivers Friday, had two hits and two RBIs for the Rangers, who collected 13 hits.
Hamels, who entered with the fifth-worst run support in the majors, must have been thrilled even though he believed he could have done better on the mound.
But the Rangers’ offense started fast, scoring two in the first as Moreland doubled with two outs to score Fielder and Adrian Beltre. After the Giants went ahead 3-2, the Rangers scored once in the fourth on an RBI single by Wilson, and twice each in the sixth and the seventh.
Hamels found his footing after the third, working around a leadoff single in the fourth to retire eight straight before Posey’s homer to start the seventh. Hamels, who started the seventh at 71 pitches, had two on with one out four batters later, but got Brandon Crawford to bounce into an inning-ending double play.
Hamels got Hector Sanchez on a groundout to start the eighth and struck out Angel Pagan for a third time before Panik found the gap in right-center. Hamels was given a standing ovation as he walked off the field.
He sat down with a three-run lead, only to watch a winning debut slip away.
Jeff Wilson, 817-390-7760
Hamels’ night
Innings pitched | 7 2/3 |
Hits | 8 |
Runs | 5 |
Earned runs | 5 |
Walks | 1 |
Strikeouts | 6 |
Pitches | 97 |
Strikes | 61 |
This story was originally published August 1, 2015 at 11:41 PM with the headline "Winning Rangers debut for Hamels slips away."