SAN FRANCISCO — Heliot Ramos, once more, discovered himself in no man’s land.
Within the backside of the primary, with Willy Adames on first and Ramos on second, Matt Chapman skied a popup that went about 40 ft. Chapman was routinely out because the infield fly rule was known as. Pirates third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes let the ball fall to the grass.
Ramos, nonetheless a reside runner, ended up about 25 ft from second base when the ball touched crass. Hayes picked up the ball, hesitated for a beat, then fired to second base. Nick Gonzales utilized the tag. Two days after a baffling mistake on Sunday Evening Baseball, Ramos was on the improper finish of a uncommon infield fly rule double play. The inning was over, and so was the rally.
The sequence wasn’t simply emblematic of Ramos’ blunders particularly. It encapsulated this group’s subpar play typically.
Ramos’ gaffe was the defining lowlight on an evening the place the Giants mustered two lone hits as they misplaced 3-1 to the Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday night time at Oracle Park. They haven’t simply misplaced 5 straight. They haven’t simply dropped 11 of their final 13 video games. They don’t simply have the worst report in baseball since buying Rafael Devers.
For the primary time since March 29 — the second recreation of the season — the Giants have a .500 report: 54 wins, 54 losses. They have been swept by the New York Mets this weekend. They might very nicely be swept by the Pirates on Wednesday. As Thursday’s commerce deadline looms, they’re staring proper at the potential for possessing a sub-.500 report for the primary time all season.
“We’ve had meetings,” mentioned supervisor Bob Melvin. “We’ve had team meetings, we’ve had all kinds of meetings. It’s going out there and fighting a little harder and winning a game and having a little more resolve, which we’ve shown this year. We just have not done it here recently.”
The resolve that Melvin references has seldom been current over the past month-and-a-half.
Their offense, even with Devers, stays under common. The rotation is in such unhealthy form with Landen Roupp injured and Hayden Birdsong in Triple-A that they known as on high pitching prospect Carson Whisenhunt. Since buying Devers, their 13-23 report and 133 runs scored are each the worst marks in all of baseball.
Ramos is much from the only real cause that the Giants are sliding out of competition. His errors, pretty or not, have gotten the defining moments of this prolonged skid.
“It was just a mental error,” Ramos mentioned. “Just trying to do too much, overthinking it. I messed up. There’s nothing I can say about it. It’s been happening a lot. I’m just trying to get better … Just trying to work on it, even on my defense. I know it hasn’t been the best. I don’t want to mess it up. I don’t know what to do. All I’m doing is working every day, trying to fix everything.”
Added Melvin: “Look, the guy plays hard. He comes to play every day. At times his defense hasn’t been its best, and I think it kind of snowballs on you a little bit and maybe start overthinking some stuff. There’s some clarity. But he comes up and he fights every at-bat. The other portions of the game he’s having a tough time.”
Ramos, who has been price -7 defensive runs saved coming into Tuesday, opened up about his struggles within the discipline.
He admitted that he’s serious about not messing up, which he is aware of is the improper thought to have.
He shared that he’s by no means struggled defensively to this diploma and it’s getting in his head.
He understands that he has to let the errors go, however is aware of it’s simpler mentioned than performed.
“It’s just a mental battle, you know,” Ramos mentioned. “When I started the season, I felt like I’m the best out there. I’m doing great on defense, I’m trying to catch the ball, get to the ball, take the right route. Then, whenever you make a couple errors — because they happen, it’s not like they never happen — when they’re back-to-back, I just get in my head and I feel like it costs us the game. It just feels like, ‘Damn, I have to get better. I just have to get better.’ I put that pressure on myself.”
When Melvin was requested if Ramos wants a break day, the Giants’ supervisor identified the Catch-22: Ramos is perhaps struggling, however he’s nonetheless one in every of their finest hitters and this group wants all of the offense it might probably get.
“It’s tough to give him a day. It’s tough to DH him too,” Melvin mentioned. “We have a couple guys that DH right now. Just got to power through it.”
“It’s whatever Bob wants,” Ramos mentioned. “Obviously, I’m not the manager. I don’t know what he wants to do. Whatever he wants, whatever is best for the team, it is what it is.”
San Francisco nonetheless had eight innings to supply offense following Ramos’ mistake, however Adames’ solo homer ended up being the group’s lone run of the night time. Ramos drew one in every of his two walks within the backside of the third to place runners on second with one out, however Devers adopted up by hitting into an inning-ending double play.
The Giants’ incapacity to attain runs left Justin Verlander with one other no-decision regardless of a strong efficiency. Verlander allowed one lone run on a solo homer by Liover Peguero, putting out seven batters and producing 13 whiffs. Curiously sufficient, Verlander didn’t stick round to talk with reporters following the loss.
The Giants had one other very odd sequence within the high of the eighth, one which led to the Pirates scoring two runs and taking a 3-1 lead.
With runners on first and second, Hayes grounded a ball to second baseman Casey Schmitt. Reliever Tyler Rogers raced to the bag and seemed in direction of second base, showing to assume that Schmitt threw the ball to second for the pressure out. Schmitt, as an alternative, threw to first. Rogers wasn’t searching for Schmitt’s throw and the ball whizzed previous him, deflecting off Hayes. It went down as a single that loaded the bases.
Pittsburgh didn’t waste the chance and took a 3-1 lead. Former Large Joey Bart gave the Pirates the lead with an RBI single to left discipline, then Peguero drove in his second run of the night time on a groundout.
Because the Giants stare down the potential for going winless this dwelling stand, Melvin’s message to his group was easy.
“Win a game tomorrow,” Melvin mentioned. “That’s all we can do. We can’t get it all back at once. Can’t win five games in one day. We have to win one. That’s the message.”
Initially Revealed: July 29, 2025 at 9:10 PM PDT
