Heliot Ramos of the Giants made history as the first right-handed hitter to hit a Splash Homer into McCovey Cove at Oracle Park, achieving this milestone during a 4-3 loss to the San Diego Padres on Sunday.
Ramos connected with a 394-foot homer into the water beyond the right field wall in the ninth inning, hitting a full-count 100.4 mph fastball from closer Robert Suarez. This was the 168th Splash Hit overall and the 105th by the Giants.
Ramos, a 25-year-old All-Star outfielder, admitted he had never hit the ball into the water during batting practice.
“But I knew no righty had ever done it, so it was always something that would be special if I did it,” Ramos said.
Ramos had been struggling with a .158 batting average over his previous 15 games before this hit. The drive was clocked at 103.8 mph off the bat, according to MLB Statcast.
“I know I’ve been hitting the ball hard these last couple of weeks, but it’s just been tough for me,” Ramos said. “My mindset … it’s been tough. I’ve been grinding.
I’ve been fighting. In that at-bat, I didn’t care. I just went up there and swung and got a good pitch to hit. And I knew he was throwing 100, so I’ve got to get ready for it.”
Manager Bob Melvin called the homer a “nice little feather” for Ramos.
“That tied the game, so it was even bigger at the time — off a really good closer,” Melvin said.
Giants starting pitcher Landen Roupp, who had left the game, watched the homer from the clubhouse and initially couldn’t tell if the ball had bounced into the water. “That was unreal,” Roupp said.
Ramos, who is the youngest Giants player to hit 20 home runs in a season since Pablo Sandoval in 2011, said he always believed he had the power to hit to the opposite field.
“It looks impossible just by looking at the wall and the weather here,” Ramos said. “So I was like, ‘I don’t know, but I might be able to do it, for sure.’ But I was always positive that I was going to do it.”
Ramos has not yet gotten the ball back but is open to negotiating for it. He mentioned that hitting the Splash Homer on Roberto Clemente Day and during a pregame tribute to Hall of Famer Orlando Cepeda, who passed away in June, made the achievement even more special.
Ramos said that being the first right-handed player to hit a Splash Homer among so many Giants legends is “insane to me.”
