SAN FRANCISCO – Win or lose, there typically is one constant in the clubhouse after a Giants game: The starting pitcher talks. That wasn’t the case Tuesday night at Oracle Park after the Giants’ 3-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates, despite Justin Verlander having one of his better outings this season.
Verlander made one costly mistake in five innings, leaving a fastball over the heart of the plate to the last batter in the Pirates’ lineup, Liover Peguero, who turned on it for a solo shot to tie the game at one run apiece in the fifth inning. The 42-year-old had seven strikeouts in five innings and only walked one batter, allowing one earned run and six hits, yet never finding himself in real trouble. But Verlander was gone by the time media members made their way to the clubhouse following manager Bob Melvin’s press conference.
So was shortstop Willy Adames, who provided one of the Giants’ two hits and their only run with a solo shot of his own, continuing his scorching-hot month at the plate.
That left Heliot Ramos to face the music, answering every question on a night where he made his second blunder on the base paths in the last three games. Mental mistakes are catching up to Ramos in the outfield and on the bases, and the 2024 MLB All-Star didn’t mince words with where his head is at right now.
“All that I have in my mind is that I don’t want to mess up,” Ramos said at his locker. “And I think that’s a wrong thought. … I just feel like I have been messing up a lot and I’m in my head. I just have to let it go and get better every day.”
His latest gaffe didn’t take long to be highlighted in front of 38,000 fans that seemed to simultaneously groan together in the bottom of the first inning. Ramos led the inning off with a walk and stole second base, earning some bragging rights off catcher Joey Bart, a former Giants teammate he came through the minor leagues with. A few batters later, Ramos found himself in no-man’s land at second base.
Matt Chapman’s light-tower pop up that landed in front of the pitcher’s mound on the third-base side was called for an infield fly. The problem is, Ramos appeared to be confused by the rule. Pirates third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes saw Ramos lurking too far off the bag and threw a strike to second baseman Nick Gonzales, who tagged Ramos out to end the inning.
“He just lost track of the rule,” Melvin said after the game. “He saw them call the infield fly rule. Just lost track of what he needed to do.”
“Just a mental error,” Ramos explained. “Trying to do too much, overthinking. I messed up. That’s the only thing I can say about it. It’s been happening a lot. I’m just trying to get better, do better every day, every time. Trying to work on it, even on my defense. 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.”
In another odd turn of events, Ramos was tagged out by New York Mets third baseman Ronny Mauricio two days prior to end the inning on a groundball hit to third base. Ramos also recently cost the Giants the game to end a three-game series where they were swept by the Toronto Blue Jays when he misjudged a fly ball in left field. The many miscalculations have been happening far longer than the past few games this season.
Ramos went 0-for-2 with two walks and a stolen base, extending his on-base streak to 13 games. The other parts of his game have been a fight between his ears.
As a breath of fresh air where Ramos could have been full of excuses, he admitted a lack of confidence that is hurting him outside of the batter’s box.
“It’s just a mental battle,” Ramos says. “When I started the season, I felt like I’m the best. I’m the best out there, I’m doing great on defense. … And then when you have a couple of errors, because they do happen, but whenever they’re back-to-back they get in my head. I feel like I’ve cost us the game. It just feels like, ‘Damn, I have to get better.’
“I just have to get better and put that pressure on myself.”
When Adames was struggling – both with his bat and his glove – a day off proved to be exactly what he needed. Giving Ramos a mental reset isn’t an option Melvin is turning to right now.
The Giants clearly need Ramos’ bat in the lineup. They just can’t have him hurting the team so severely elsewhere. He’s one of their top hitters, and putting him at DH also isn’t in the plan because of players like Rafael Devers and Wilmer Flores.
With one game to go before Thursday’s MLB trade deadline, Ramos will be in the lineup for Wednesday’s matinee game to end a six-game homestand.
“It’s hard to do for a guy that tries as hard as he does,” Melvin said when asked if he considered pulling Ramos after the mistake. “It’s not like he doesn’t care. It’s not like he doesn’t hustle. It’s not like he’s not going out there unprepared and working. We’re not swinging the bat very well and he’s one of our biggest bats, so there’s a little catch-22 with that.
“He’s going to play tomorrow and we have an off day after that.”
The Giants have lost five consecutive games, including seven in a row at home. They’ve dropped 11 of their last 13 and are back down to .500 for the first time since the second game of the season. Since acquiring a superstar in Devers, they quite literally have been the worst team in baseball.
Reasons for their tumble down the standings extend far beyond Ramos’ many glaring problems in the outfield and on the bases. At least he faced the music and took accountability, knowing words only mean so much if issues aren’t quickly corrected.
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