The San Francisco Giants series finale against the San Diego Padres was an eventful one. Based on how post-game coverage was done, you would have never known that the Giants actually came away with a 7-6 victory.
The main focus post-game was on the miscommunication between shortstop Tyler Fitzgerald and second baseman Marco Luciano. In the seventh inning on a popup into the outfield, both players tracked the ball to make a play.
They collided, leading to the play not being made. Two runs scored as a result of the miscue and Jurickson Profar, who hit the pop-up, took second base as the young middle infielders compounded their error by not covering second base.
It was a harsh learning experience for Fitzgerald and Luciano, who both spoke about the incident after the game. The young shortstop shouldered the blame, but did say communication needs to improve.
Unfortunately, speaking about miscues in a win didn’t stop there for San Francisco manager Bob Melvin.
Those two weren’t the only players to draw the ire of their manager on Sunday afternoon. All-Star outfielder Heliot Ramos was reprimanded for not hustling out a ball that he hit to right field.
Fernando Tatis Jr. lost the ball in the sun, which allowed Ramos to get to second base for a double. Had he been running the ball out from the start, he could have ended up on third base with a triple.
“He said he’ll never do that again,” Melvin said of Ramos, via Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic. “Look, he plays hard every single day. A fly ball to Tatis is typically an out, but we did discuss here that the sun in right field, especially early in a day game, can be tough. He couldn’t be more apologetic. He’s a guy who plays hard; he’s a great kid. He learns.”
As Melvin noted, Ramos isn’t someone who normally dogs it or takes plays off. In the grand scheme of things, this was a minor mistake that almost assuredly won’t occur again as he plays hard every time he takes the field.
But, it is yet another learning experience for a young team that has received its fair share of lumps throughout 2024. Even in victory, it feels in some ways as if the Giants lost.
Hopefully, this will all help the team be in better position to succeed in 2025.
