Crawford has blasts, sets franchise record
ARLINGTON, Texas — Brandon Crawford would have liked to set an alltime franchise mark at home rather than on the road, but even in the Rangers’ fancy new ballpark, Crawford was playing in front of a hefty number of Giants fans, plus his wife, Jalynne, and four kids.
And when the Rangers announced that Crawford was about to set the Giants’ record for most games played at shortstop and he took the field alone, the cheers were pretty much through the retractable roof.
Crawford played his 1,326th game at short with the team he grew up rooting for; then, in the sixth, he hammered a 10 fastball from Jordan Lyles over the fence in rightcenter to give the Giants the lead.
That wasn’t the biggest hit of the night for San Francisco, however: Mike Tauchman — 0for3 on the night and batting .183 — hit his first career grand slam in the eighth to power a 94 win over the Rangers and improve the Giants’ bigleaguebest record to 3822.
“We were all pretty fired up,” Crawford said of Tauchman’s slam. “He’s been having such good atbats and not getting rewarded for it.”
Then Crawford added anoth
shot, a threerun homer, in the ninth.
“Growing up as a little kid and being a Giants fan, wanting to play shortstop for the Giants and all that, you never really think about stuff like this,” Crawford said on the field before the game. “It’s pretty unbelievable. For the accomplishments I’ve had throughout my career, this is probably toward the top.”
At 34, the Foothill HighPleasanton alum is enjoying one of the best starts in his career, with 14 homers and 41 RBIs, team highs, and nightly he seems to make remarkable plays. On Tuesday at Globe Life Field, he took part in three of the four double plays the Giants turned, including a particularly smooth turn coming across the bag fast in the fourth inning.
Crawford snapped a tie with New York Giants shortstop Travis Jackson (192236).
“It’s kind of a tribute to staying healthy and being able to be on the field as much as I can, and loyalty from the Giants to keep me around for long enough to be able to break a record like this,” Crawford said.
Originally, he was expected to pass Jackson last season, as his father, Mike, had informed him. “My dad keeps up on stuff like this,” said Crawford, who plans to keep one of his jerseys from Tuesday’s game.
“Obviously, a sensational performance,” manager Gabe Kapler said. “After the game, we had a little Champagne toast for him . ... It just was a true performance and really enjoyable to watch for everybody.”
Crawford is one of a very few Giants regulars who have avoided significant injuries this year. On Tuesday, the team welcomed Brandon Belt (oblique) off the injured list, but Alex Dickerson left as a precaution after feeling back tightness while striking out in the first.
Alex Wood was charged with all four Texas runs; two came after he left when Adolis García ripped a tworun double off Jarlín García. Joey Gallo, who homered off Wood in the second, left in the eighth with groin tightness.