(Sports Network) - With their backs against the wall the Texas Rangers play their first home World Series game in their 50-year history this evening when they host Game 3 against the San Francisco Giants at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.
World Series Game 3, Giants Vs. Rangers: Texas Looking To Get On The Board
However, the Rangers head home from San Francisco in an 0-2 hole after losing the first two games. The 1996 New York Yankees were the last team to overcome such a deficit, but only 11 of the previous 51 teams who have fallen into such a hole have gotten out of it.
“Well, the challenge is we have to go home and we have to get a win,” Texas manager Ron Washington said. “We’re certainly confident when we get back to Texas we can turn this thing around. Just as they won two games here in San Francisco we can get back to Texas and do the same thing. We expect to do that.”
The Giants got a terrific pitching performance from Matt Cain on Thursday, as he silenced the Rangers for 7 2/3 innings, and Edgar Renteria went 2-for-4 with a homer and three RBI, helping San Francisco to a 9-0 rout.
The Giants’ formula for success this postseason -- terrific starting pitching and offense from an unlikely source -- has them halfway to their first World Series title since 1954, four years before they moved to San Francisco.
Cain (1-0), who did not allow an earned run over 13 2/3 frames in the NLDS and NLCS, continued to baffle hitters by scattering four hits and two walks while striking out two in another outstanding performance for the 26-year-old righty.
“Cain was good. We had some opportunities early, but he made his pitches,” Washington said. “That’s what he does well. We just couldn’t get it done. We have to tip our hat to the pitcher.”
Juan Uribe drove in a pair for San Francisco, which broke the game open with a seven-run eighth en route to its 13th straight home win against the Rangers while beating them for the ninth consecutive time overall.
C.J. Wilson (0-1) was on the opposite end of the decision, allowing two runs on three hits and two walks in six-plus innings for Texas, which had won five of its six road playoff games coming into its first Fall Classic.
Wilson was forced to leave because of a blister.
“My finger ripped open. It’s usually not this bad. I’ve been super-gluing it the past few weeks to keep it together and it just ruptured,” Wilson said. “I did what I thought was right for the team at the point in coming out.”
While the Rangers went 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position, the Giants had four hits in their nine chances. Texas' vaunted offense has been held in check through the first two games, as Michael Young, Josh Hamilton and Nelson Cruz are a combined 3-for-25 (.120) in the World Series, and the Rangers are hitting just .227 as a team.
“That, more or less, has to do with the pitching we’ve been facing,” Washington said. “You know, those guys were good, especially Cain tonight. We had some opportunities early in the ballgame to put some runs on the board, and we had the right people up there, and he made his pitches.”
History also doesn’t seem to be on the side of the Rangers, as the last 11 road teams to lose the first two games have gone on to lose the series.
So now Texas turns to right-hander Colby Lewis, who has been the surprise of the postseason for the Rangers, going 2-0 in his three starts, while pitching to a 1.45 ERA.
“I just have to take it like any of the other 35 starts [this season],” Lewis said after Thursday’s loss. “That’s the way you’ve got to look at it. You’ve got to keep doing what you’ve done all year.”
Lewis’ two wins came in the ALCS against the Yanks, as he pitched the Rangers into the World Series with eight innings of one-run ball in the Game 6 clincher.
“We have confidence in all of our starters,” Young said. “But Colby’s coming off the win that got us to the World Series, and we have a ton of confidence in him.”
Lewis had spent the previous two seasons in Japan, but returned to the majors this season and went 12-13 with a 3.72 ERA with wins in three of his last four decisions.
San Francisco, meanwhile, will hand the ball to left-hander Jonathan Sanchez, who is 0-1 this postseason with a 2.93 ERA. Sanchez, though, failed to get out of the third inning in the Giants' Game 6 clincher against the Phillies, as he allowed two runs and three hits and walked a pair before exiting.
“I did the same things I had always done, and that day I just didn’t have it,” Sanchez said. “But we’re all human. We have bad days, and we have good days. We all do.”
Sanchez, though, was the Giants’ best pitcher down the stretch of the regular season, pitching to a 1.03 ERA over his final seven starts.
While the Rangers are enjoying the first real postseason run in the team’s 50- year franchise history, the Giants are no stranger to the World Series and are making their 18th appearance. However, this is just the team’s fourth trip to the Fall Classic since moving to San Francisco in 1958.
Game 4 of this series is slated for Sunday at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.
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