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Reporting from ORACLE PARK
A few days ago, Heliot Ramos showed interest in becoming the first right-handed hitter in Oracle Park’s 25-year history to crush a homer into McCovey Cove.
After 104 “splash hits,” all from lefties, the Giants left fielder achieved his goal with ease by demolishing a clutch, game-tying no-doubter the opposite way in the ninth.
Few have come close, like Buster Posey‘s last professional homer in the 2021 National League Division Series, but none have accomplished the feat until now.
Ramos made history, but his big swing wasn’t enough as the San Francisco Giants (72-78) ended up dropping the series finale to the San Diego Padres 4-3 in extra innings at Oracle Park on Sunday afternoon.
The loss marks the first time the Giants have been swept by the Padres (85-65) at home since August 29-31, 2022.
This story will be updated with quotes and post-game material from the Giants clubhouse at Oracle Park.
With only a handful of games left, the organization has made clear that sneaking a look at their young players is a priority. Rookie right-hander Landon Roupp’s path of development has been far from linear this season — he’s been shuttled up and down from Triple-A Sacramento and shifted from being a starter to a reliever and now starter again — but he’s powering through with a late-season surge to put himself on the map in terms of pitching plans for 2025.
Roupp yielded just two hits in five scoreless frames while walking two and striking out four. The four punch-out victims were all mesmerized by Roupp’s signature breaking ball, a pitch he frequently turned to in two-strike counts.
Giants bats have been remarkably awful over the past few games — unalive to the point of desperation as the regular season comes to a close.
They entered Sunday’s matchup not having scored since Wednesday night when they put 13 runs on the board in a win over the Brewers. Thirty-two straight innings of silence — pure crickets — finally ended when Donnie Walton blasted a game-tying solo homer to center field in the sixth to even the score at 1-1.
It was the longest scoreless streak in franchise history since a 33-inning drought plagued the 72-90 1992 Giants.
Walton’s shot was his first homer of the season, and also his first big league hit since the 2022 season when he split time between the Giants and Seattle Mariners. He’s spent most of this season playing for Sacramento and recently had his contract purchased on Friday after slashing .306/.380/.441 in 99 games for the River Cats.
Walton’s tied the game, but not for long.
In the eighth, the Padres turned to pinch-hitter Fernando Tatis Jr., who walloped the first pitch from Tyler Rogers over the left-center field wall to give San Diego the lead.
After Ramos tied things in the ninth, the Padres retook the lead in extra innings when Camilo Doval allowed the automatic runner to score from second in the tenth.
Despite ineffective bats, the Giants have found their defense as another aspect to worry about. Whether stemming from miscommunication or general sloppiness, their gloves haven’t worked in the slightest as of late, prompting manager Bob Melvin and infield coach Matt Williams to re-introduce some fundamental drills back into play.
Full-squad infield and outfield practice is more of a sight to behold ahead of a high school baseball game, or even in the backfields in Scottsdale for Spring Training. But the entire group of position players tapped into the rare pregame routine in an effort to tighten up their subpar defense before the series finale against the Padres, a tactic Melvin hopes will allow the players who haven’t played together to gain familiarity with each other.
Melvin also said some players are playing out of position because of the usually hectic nature of September baseball, and the wackiness that comes with it. Marco Luciano, for example, is new to second base and hasn’t played enough professionally there to appear close to comfortable.
The extra work might have helped, but the Giants still allowed a costly run to come across in the sixth when Manny Machado cranked a sacrifice fly to open up the scoring, following a crucial Mark Canha error at first base.
Up Next
The Giants will have an off-day in Baltimore on Monday ahead of a three-game series against the first-place Orioles. They haven’t announced their pitching plans for the series.
Notes
The Giants held a pregame celebration of life for Hall of Famer Orlando Cepeda ahead of Sunday afternoon’s game. Cepeda died on June 28 at the age of 86. Future Hall of Fame manager Dusty Baker, Minnesota Twins legend Tony Oliva and Giants Hall of Famer Juan Marichal were among the speakers who took the podium to honor Cepeda.
