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PHOENIX — When the Giants hit the road for six games against the Arizona Diamondbacks and Texas Rangers, they could have viewed it as a daunting trip. It’s usually considered a challenge when you play the two clubs that met in the World Series last October.
But nothing alters your perspective quite like getting Bronx bombed by Aaron Judge and Juan Soto. It’s hard to imagine a tougher homestand than the one the Giants just completed against the New York Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies, who own the best records in their respective leagues.
So it would be understandable if the Giants viewed this road trip to Arizona and Texas as an opportunity to flush bad vibes and generate fresh momentum — especially while the Diamondbacks and Rangers are both dealing with a wave of injuries that have decimated their rotations.
Except the Giants continue to be trapped in that sour portion of the season that flummoxes every team at some point. They are playing well enough to win. They aren’t getting the break they need on a pivotal play in the late innings. And the hit that decides the game is coming against some of the relievers they trust the most.
A replay review overturned a safe call and took a run off the board in the top of the ninth inning, right-hander Randy Rodriguez served up a two-run home run to Pavin Smith in the bottom half, and the Diamondbacks celebrated a 4-2 victory Monday night at Chase Field.
The Giants lost their season-high fifth consecutive game, which is not the easiest concept to process. Anyone who paid attention to them in April would recognize that they have a better team now.
Nobody has done more to establish himself as part of that group than Heliot Ramos and part of the proof came before the first pitch. The Giants welcomed back Michael Conforto from the injured list after he missed three weeks with a strained hamstring. Conforto returned to his starting job in left field. Yet Ramos still had a place in the lineup card. He started in right field and batted fifth, one spot in front of designated hitter Jorge Soler.
Giants manager Bob Melvin moved Mike Yastrzemski from right to center — a defensive move that the manager had resisted after center fielder Jung Hoo Lee sustained a season-ending shoulder injury. Melvin said he valued Yastrzemski’s defense in right field too much to relocate him.
But with Luis Matos scuffling and Ramos continuing to make blistering contact, the alteration became an easy call.
Does this mean Ramos is establishing himself as an everyday big leaguer?
“I think he already has, really,” Melvin said. “From the minute he got here, he’s been playing with a lot of confidence. He’s playing left, playing right, hitting him everywhere in the lineup from the middle to leadoff. He continues to play with a lot of energy. He’s playing great.”
He was the Giants’ best player on the field Monday night. He crushed a 420-foot home run just right of dead center that tied the game in the seventh inning. His single as part of a ninth-inning rally was scorched at 107.5 mph off the bat. And Ramos made perfect reads and reactions while catching a pair of streaking line drives that might have otherwise rattled in the gap in earlier seasons given the concessions the Giants often made to outfield defense.
“They were hard hit but I got a good route,” Ramos said. “I’m a better outfielder this year for sure. It’s just making the right decisions, being aggressive with my decisions and trusting my instincts.”
At the plate, too?
“Yeah,” he said. “I have to trust what I see. My eyes are the only things I got, and my bat. So I gotta trust it.”
HELIOT RAMOS TIES IT UP 🚨 pic.twitter.com/kPtjFDXLtN
— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) June 4, 2024
Ramos hasn’t played in a month’s worth of games but he already ranks fifth on the Giants in bWAR and his 58.3 percent hard-hit rate ranks 15th out of 355 major leaguers with at least 75 plate appearances.
“What stands out is how hard he hits the ball,” Conforto said. “And he’s not just swinging blindly. He’s having good at-bats, he’s getting his pitch, he’s going to all parts of the field, hitting different types of pitches. It’s all been there. He’s doing it all for us.”
Ramos’ two-out single in the ninth moved Matt Chapman from first to third, and if not for a stop sign from third base coach Matt Williams, Chapman appeared set on barreling the rest of the way home. Melvin called it a good decision, saying Chapman would’ve been out at the plate by plenty. Chapman momentarily scored the tiebreaking run when first base umpire Brian Knight ruled that Soler was safe on a chopper to third baseman Eugenio Suarez. But replays clearly showed that Diamondbacks first baseman Christian Walker received the high throw and put a tag on Soler before the Giants’ DH reached the base.
The go-ahead run was taken off the board after Arizona’s challenge overturned this call pic.twitter.com/pXHv7i89m6
— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) June 4, 2024
Melvin had closer Camilo Doval ready to pitch the bottom of the ninth in a save situation. Instead, he went to Rodriguez, whose emergence in the bullpen has mirrored Ramos’ emergence in the lineup.
A bloop and a blast later and the Giants trudged off with a 29-32 record.
“Game of inches, right?” Melvin said. “It (would’ve been) Doval in the game, but the way Randy’s been pitching, we felt good about it. … It really was just one pitch. When you’re in a game like that, that’s all it takes.”
(Photo: Christian Petersen / Getty Images)
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Fitnessnacks – #Establishing #shot #Heliot #Ramos #continues #emerge #Giants #walkoff #loss #Arizona
Courtesy : https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5539012/2024/06/04/heliot-ramos-emerges-giants-lose/