Fans were urged to make some Texas-sized noise and to sing along to “Deep in the Heart of Texas.” Just in case anyone had forgotten, the 106th World Series had shifted to the Lone Star State, where subtlety is a four-letter word.
That fits the profile of the Texas Rangers, who matched the spectacle surrounding their first World Series home game with a 4-2 victory against the Giants in Game 3 that was anything but understated. Yet another stifling pitching performance from Colby Lewis, coupled with booming home runs by Mitch Moreland and Josh Hamilton, restored the sizzle to a series that seemed to have lost its sheen when it left an apoplectic San Francisco on Thursday.
The Rangers found World Series games here so much fun that they assured their fans of seeing a full complement, with the ace Cliff Lee lined up for a Game 5 start Monday that will play a pivotal role in determining whether Texas will become the first pennant winner to overcome a 2-0 deficit since the 1996 Yankees. Game 4, with Madison Bumgarner of San Francisco scheduled to face the Rangers’ Tommy Hunter, is set for Sunday night.
The underbelly of the Rangers’ bullpen, battered for 11 of the Giants’ 20 runs, may as well head for the concession stands when Lewis is on the mound. He has become their designated stopper, winning his last three starts, all after losses. Two of those came in the American League Championship Series against the Yankees, who were baffled by his extraordinary command and deceptive slider.
Yet the perception still existed that no way was Lewis — Colby Lewis? — morphing into an ace. Lewis allowed late bases-empty homers to Cody Ross (seventh inning) and to Andres Torres (eighth), and in four playoff outings he is 3-0 with a 1.71 earned run average.
The opinion that Lewis would be nervous heading into his start Saturday, with the Rangers trailing in the series, 2-0, was understandable if also, to him, a bit laughable. Want to know what pressure feels like? Try taking your family to Japan and telling them to trust you. Want to know what pitching in front of a rollicking capacity crowd feels like? Try making two opening day starts for the Hiroshima Carp.
“I think that’s what kind of helps me coming back here with the noise and the celebration and everybody cheering and stuff like that,” Lewis said.
There was noise and celebration and plenty of stuff like that at Rangers Ballpark, where the night unofficially began with the beloved former catcher — and current Washington National — Ivan Rodriguez catching (blocking, actually) the ceremonial first pitch from Nolan Ryan.
Many among the largest crowd in stadium history — 52,419 — came decked out in claw T-shirts and antlers headgear, the battle cry of a team that ever so slightly has intruded into a local sports scene dominated by the football team down the street. One fan held aloft a sign that deftly summarized the region’s feelings: “Who Needs Cowboys When We Have Rangers.” For 39 seasons, this bustling suburb between Dallas and Fort Worth has waited for Saturday, and its team did not disappoint.
Standing between the Rangers and relevance again was the San Francisco left-hander Jonathan Sanchez, who rarely produces a start that is merely average. He either dominates (Game 1, division series) or implodes (Game 6, N.L.C.S.), which is what he seemed to be saying Friday when asked about that brief appearance in Philadelphia.
“You know,” he said, “everybody is going to have bad days and good days.”
It started out good for Sanchez, who was uncharacteristically efficient in a 10-pitch first inning, but then it turned bad, in a second inning that he would soon like to forget. The Rangers’ poor situational hitting (4 for 21 with runners in scoring position through two games) was seemingly doomed to fail them once more, when with one out Jeff Francoeur could not drive in Nelson Cruz from third. Sanchez then walked the No. 8 hitter Bengie Molina, which is a smart play in National League ballparks, where the designated hitter is not used and the pitcher usually bats ninth.
Batting ninth for Texas was Moreland, a rookie left-handed hitter with a .342 average in 12 playoff games — and only 20 regular-season at-bats against left-handers. In the A.L.C.S., Moreland terrorized Yankees pitchers with his ability to grind out long at-bats, to foul off pitches, and that strategy can be particularly effective against wild pitchers like Sanchez. With a 2-2 count, Moreland fouled off four straight pitches — two sliders, two changeups — before mashing a fastball deep into the right-field seats. Ross, patrolling right field, hardly moved as the ball soared above.
The Rangers led, 3-0, their first advantage since the third inning of Game 1, and the score stayed that way as Lewis silenced the Giants through the middle innings, mowing down 14 of 16 batters. He ended up pitching seven and two-thirds innings, before Darren O’Day got one out and Neftali Feliz got the final three.
Sanchez briefly teetered, putting runners on base in the third and fourth, before with two outs and the bases empty in the fifth allowing a 426-foot blast to Hamilton that cleared both bullpens in right-center field.
As Hamilton rounded the bases, four people deliriously waving Texas flags ran onto the berm, reminding everyone — again, in case they had forgotten — how baseball is played in these parts.
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