SAN DIEGO — On the last day of April, a pair of NL West managers treated the eighth inning of a division game like it was a September battle.
In the top of the inning, San Diego Padres manager Mike Shildt had closer Robert Suarez get loose for what would have been a five-out save attempt had the Giants continued to rally. In the bottom of the inning, Bob Melvin turned to Tyler Rogers, who almost exclusively pitches when the Giants are ahead or tied in the eighth, not down by a pair.
It’s April, but this was a big game in what has been baseball’s best division. In the end, Schildt was able to save his closer for the ninth, and Suarez closed out a 5-3 win, handing the Giants a two-game sweep in their first NL West series of the year.
The Giants flew to San Diego in first place. They’ll head home in third after scoring just seven runs over 18 innings against a very good pitching staff.
Michael King, perhaps the game’s most underrated starter, was dominant early, but the Giants knocked him out with an extended rally in the sixth. They had just one hit to that point, but King drilled Tyler Fitzgerald with one out and then gave up a single to Mike Yasterzemski. After an athletic stop by Manny Machado, Jung Hoo Lee drove in a run with a single off first baseman Luis Arraez’s glove.
The Padres went to their bullpen and Jeremiah Estrada struck out Matt Chapman to strand two runners, but the Giants kept chipping away. Homers by Heliot Ramos and Yastrzemski allowed them to get the tying run to the plate in the top of the eighth, but Lee was robbed of a bloop single by a diving Jason Heyward and Chapman struck out again, dropping his average to .198.
Yaz goes yard at Petco❗️ pic.twitter.com/OpMeaTPEVf
— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) April 30, 2025
Here are the takeaways from the loss that drops the Giants to 19-12 this season:
A Save In The Fifth
This one could have gotten out of hand in a hurry, but Spencer Bivens did a nice job of limiting the damage after entering with the bases loaded and one out in the fifth. Bivens struck out Xander Bogaerts and then got a slow roller from Jose Iglesias, but it was hit too slowly for the Giants to record an out and brought a run home. A flyout from Tyler Wade ended the inning.
Bivens did end up giving up a run in his second inning of work, which snapped his run of six consecutive scoreless appearances. On the season, he has a 2.63 ERA. That’s good work from the long man.
The Starter
Landen Roupp entered the day in the top 10 percent of baseball in whiff percentage and hard-hit percentage, and the advanced metrics generally say he’s having a good year. But he’s still looking for better raw results.
Roupp was charged with four earned runs on seven hits and three walks, bumping his ERA to 5.10. Over his last two starts, he has allowed seven earned runs and thrown just eight total innings.
More Traditional
The thrilling Little League Walk-Off on Sunday didn’t actually count as a home run, which meant Ramos was sitting on a pretty long drought. He homered three times in the first five games of the season but had gone 25 games without one until he jumped on a fastball from Estrada in the seventh inning.
Ramos launches one to the second deck 🚀 pic.twitter.com/5UIXUzZaVH
— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) April 30, 2025
The blast landed in the second deck in left, going an estimated 419 feet. It was the best swing in a while for a young player who has quietly been scuffling. Over those 25 games, Ramos had a .601 OPS and was slugging just .289.
