Hot at the start, clutch at the end: Ramos leads Giants to sweep

SAN FRANCISCO -- Heliot Ramos came through at the beginning and at the end for the Giants on Sunday.

The 25-year-old left fielder continued his hot May by crushing a leadoff home run and delivering a go-ahead single in the eighth inning to help San Francisco complete a three-game sweep of the A’s with a 3-2 win in the series finale between the Northern California rivals at Oracle Park.

Ramos’ productive day helped the Giants record their 13th comeback victory of the season, which is tied for the second-most in the Majors.

“He and [Wilmer Flores] are the guys you want at the plate right now,” manager Bob Melvin said. “It’s been pretty significant now. He’s hitting close to .300. Whether you lead him off, whether you hit him fourth, he’s up for it. He’s durable. He’s playing every day. It’s kind of All-Star quality again, what he’s doing at this point.”

Ramos walloped A’s left-hander Jeffrey Springs’ first pitch of the game out to center field for his second career leadoff home run, but the Giants were held scoreless over the next six innings, as Springs went on to retire the next 20 batters he faced before giving up a two-out single to Matt Chapman in the seventh.

San Francisco trailed, 2-1, entering the bottom of the eighth, but the club managed to stage another late comeback against A’s reliever Tyler Ferguson. LaMonte Wade Jr. opened the inning with a pinch-hit triple and scored on Patrick Bailey's game-tying single up the middle, an encouraging sign from two hitters who have struggled mightily to get going at the plate this year.

“There are certain at-bats that can be huge for you,” Melvin said. “[Wade] has a history of being able to pinch-hit, so even though it hasn’t been great for him, I think he’s ready for those types of moments. Hopefully that spurs him. Bailey, too. Two really good at-bats.”

Bailey then advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Christian Koss and came home on a single to left field from Ramos, who is now batting .396 (21-for-53) with a 1.158 OPS over 15 games this month. That torrid stretch has bumped Ramos’ batting average to .293 with an .854 OPS, both of which lead the Giants this season.

“I’m feeling good,” Ramos said. “It comes and goes. It’s just about what I’m swinging at. It’s about what I’m trying to look for at the plate. It’s just pitch-by-pitch, at-bat by at-bat. I’m just trying to see how I feel every day.”

Left-handed starters have generally spelled trouble for San Francisco this season, but Ramos gave them an early lift on Sunday by bashing a 90.4 mph fastball from Springs out to the Giants’ bullpen in left-center field to collect his eighth homer of the year in the bottom of the first.

“I was ready,” Ramos said. “I was ready first pitch. I’m always ready first pitch. I knew that he wasn’t throwing super hard or sinking it, so I was like, ‘Whatever’s middle-middle, that’s all mine.’ I was ready to swing.”

Justin Verlander didn’t factor into the decision after giving up two runs on five hits and a season-high five walks over four innings, extending his winless streak to his first 10 starts of the year, the longest drought of his 20-year career.

The 42-year-old right-hander said he was dealing with “something physically” that hampered both his command and velocity, though he declined to share more details of what was ailing him. Verlander averaged 91.3 mph on his fastball, nearly 3 mph down from his season average of 94.2, though he’s said he’s optimistic he’ll be able to work through the issue and make his next start.

“I didn’t feel like I was going to put myself at risk for injury, but clearly, it was kind of affecting my velocity and mechanics,” Verlander said. “Hopefully it’s just a blip on the radar.”

Verlander opened his start with three scoreless innings, but the A’s managed to run up his pitch count and seize a 2-1 lead behind Lawrence Butler’s two-out bases-loaded single in the fourth.

The three-time Cy Young winner departed after throwing 84 pitches (41 for strikes), but the Giants’ bullpen picked him up, with Spencer Bivens, Erik Miller, Randy Rodríguez and Ryan Walker combining to throw five scoreless innings to cap a weekend of sensational pitching for San Francisco.

The Giants held the A’s to only three runs over this three-game series, lowering their team ERA to 3.36, the sixth-best mark in the Majors this year.

“I think our bullpen has been spectacular, keeping us in ballgames and allowing us to come back and have some late-inning heroics,” Verlander said. “I think the more that that happens, the more a team starts to feel comfortable that this is the norm.”