David Peralta hit a go-ahead single in the 10th inning, and the San Diego Padres managed to win 4-3 against the San Francisco Giants on Sunday, completing a three-game sweep. This victory came despite Heliot Ramos hitting the first right-handed Splash Homer into McCovey Cove.
Ramos launched a 394-foot drive into the water behind the right field stands in the ninth inning off Robert Suarez (9-3), tying the game 2-2. Since the ballpark opened in 2000, there have been 167 Splash Homers by left-handed batters, including 104 by Giants players.
Ramos said, “It looks impossible just by looking at the wall and the weather here,” and described the achievement as “insane” for him.
The 25-year-old mentioned that he was always aware no right-handed hitter had achieved a Splash Hit and wanted to be the first.
“We lost, obviously, but it’s a special day because I did that,” Ramos said. “It’s a good accomplishment for me.”
San Diego (85-65) is currently holding the top spot in the NL wild card standings with two weeks left in the season, 1 1/2 games ahead of Arizona (83-66).
Fernando Tatís Jr., who hit a pinch-hit homer in the eighth inning, said, “This team is on a mission. We definitely want to get there.” San Francisco has now lost four games in a row.
With the score tied 2-2, Peralta’s single to left field drove in automatic runner Jake Cronenworth. Peralta advanced to third on Luis Arráez’s double and then scored on Donovan Solano’s groundout, giving the Padres a 4-2 lead.
Michael Conforto’s sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 10th inning brought in a run against Adrián Morejón, who then retired Patrick Bailey on a groundout to earn his second save.
The Padres improved to 9-1 in extra-inning games, the best record in the majors. Manager Mike Shildt said his team has a “hunger to win and compete” and that they “do what the game calls for.”
“It’s about execution,” Shildt said. “You get into close games, it’s about execution.”
Tatís mentioned that the Padres have focused on making solid contact rather than swinging for power, which has helped them win tight games.
“It’s beautiful,” Tatís said. “It’s amazing. I haven’t seen anything like how good we have been this year on those occasions.”
The Giants went scoreless for 32 innings, just three innings short of their San Francisco record set in 1976, before Donovan Walton hit a solo homer in the sixth inning against Martín Pérez. Manny Machado had also contributed a sacrifice fly earlier.
Tatís hit a home run against Tyler Rogers in the eighth inning, marking his fourth home run in five games.
Arráez continued his streak of 140 at-bats without a strikeout for the Padres. This is the longest streak since Juan Pierre’s 147 at-bats without a strikeout in 2004. Arráez also had two hits, extending his hitting streak to 13 games.
After criticizing his players’ defensive play in an 8-0 loss on Saturday as “not major league quality,” Giants manager Bob Melvin had his team practice defensive drills in both the infield and outfield before Sunday’s game.
Melvin noted that with a “completely different group” compared to spring training and some players like Brett Wisely and Marco Luciano playing out of position, the Giants are focusing on improving communication and chemistry.
“It certainly isn’t something that really needs to be punitive,” Melvin said before the game. “But we need to try to stay on top of stuff like this, because it has to look better than it did (on Saturday).”
On Sunday, the Giants made one error when Mark Canha misplayed a ground ball to first base by Donovan Solano in the sixth inning, which put runners on first and second with no outs. Jurickson Profar’s sacrifice and Machado’s fly ball brought in the first run.
“We make an error today that has an impact, so (it’s the) little things right now and certainly a lack of offense,” Melvin said.
