Heliot Ramos made his spring training debut for the Giants Tuesday and was feeling spry enough to steal a base in a 1-1 tie with the San Diego Padres at Peoria Stadium.
Sidelined by a right oblique injury, the Giants have brought their surprise 2024 All-Star along with the idea of getting ready for Opening Day. Batting second in the order behind LaMonte Wade Jr., Ramos walked on four pitches from San Diego starter Nick Pivetta.
Jung Hoo Lee was next, and as Lee was striking out, Ramos stole second, where he was stranded when Jerar Encarnacion struck out swinging.
Ramos, 25, had a breakout season with 22 home runs, 72 RBIs and a .269 batting average in 121 games after being called up from Triple-A Sacramento. In his next two at-bats, Ramos flied to center against Ryan Och in the top of the third (the ball had a 101.6 miles per hour exit velocity) and grounded out to third to end the sixth against left-hander Adrian Morejon. Both came on the second pitch with 1-0 counts.
That was it for Ramos, who, departed the game and was replaced by Charlie Szykowny in the batting order.
It was the Giants’ third tie in Cactus League play for a 5-3-3 record. San Diego is 3-8.
Roupp making his case for rotation
Right-handed starter Landon Roupp is going beyond simply making his case for the Opening Day roster after a dominant outing against the Padres.
In 3 1/3 innings, Roupp gave up no runs, hits or walks, with the only baserunner a hit by pitch against Martin Maldonado after he had retired the first eight hitters. In a 37 pitch effort, Roupp threw 30 strikes and had three strikeouts.
In three spring training outings, Roupp has give up just one hit in 8 1/3 innings with 11 strikeouts. In his previous outing, Roupp gave up one hit with no walks and five strikeouts in three innings against Seattle.
Given Roupp’s solid performance as a rookie (1-2 with a 3.58 ERA in 50 1/3 innings), it will be difficult to keep him off the regular season roster. Over the last 12 games of his rookie year, Roupp had a 2.38 ERA and a 1.24 WHIP.
The Giants used five pitchers to finish up after Roupp departed, going to left-hander Raymond Burgos (2/3 of an innings), Spencer Bivens (2 innings), Randy Rodriguez (1 innings), Cole Waites (1 inning) and Miguel Diaz (1 innings).
The Padres got their lone run against Rodriguez in the bottom of the seventh on an infield chopper by Marcos Castanon that brought in Brandon Butterworth. Rodriguez walked two batters in the inning and lost a potential out when catcher Patrick Bailey dropped a routine foul pop.
Matos drives in lone run
Matos, who his hitting .286, doubled home pinch-runner Grant McRae with a shot to the left field corner. He hit .213 in 45 games for the Giants last season after a hot start and is competing for an outfield spot with Ramos, Lee and Mike Yastrzemski the likely starters.
Notable
— Miguel Diaz retired the last out of the game on an ABS (Automated Ball-Strike) strikeout of Elias Diaz.
— Jordan Hicks pitched three scoreless innings with no walks and five strikeouts in a split squad game at Papago Park.
— The Giants visit the Arizona Diamondbacks Wednesday at Salt River Fields with left-hander Kyle Harrison the scheduled starter.