Padres beat Giants 4-3 in 10 innings for sweep, overcoming first righty Splash Homer by Ramos

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — David Peralta hit a tiebreaking single in the 10th inning, and the San Diego Padres overcame Heliot Ramos becoming the first right-handed batter to homer into McCovey Cove with a 4-3 win over the San Francisco Giants on Sunday that finished a three-game sweep.

Ramos hit a 394-foot, opposite-field drive into the water behind the right field stands in the ninth off Robert Suarez (9-3), tying the score 2-2. There have been 167 Splash Homers by left-handed batters since the ballpark opened in 2000, including 104 by Giants hitters.

“It looks impossible just by looking at the wall and the weather here,” Ramos said, adding that the feat was “insane” to him.

The 25-year-old said he was always aware that no right-handed hitter had 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 in the top NL wild card position with two weeks to play, 1 1/2 games ahead of Arizona (83-66).

“This team is on a mission. We definitely want to get there," said Fernando Tatís Jr., who had a pinch-homer in the eighth.

San Francisco has lost four straight.

With the score 2-2, Peralta drove in automatic runner Jake Cronenworth with an opposite-field single to left leading off against Camilo Doval (5-3). Peralta took third on Luis Arráez's double and scored on Donovan Solano's groundout for a 4-2 lead.

Michael Conforto hit a sacrifice fly in the bottom half against Adrián Morejón, who retired Patrick Bailey on a groundout for his second save.

The Padres improved to 9-1 in extra-inning games, the highest winning percentage in the big leagues. Manager Mike Shildt said his team has a “hunger to win and compete" and players that “do what the game calls for.”

“It’s about execution,” Shildt said. “You get into close games, it's about execution.”

Tatís said the Padres have emphasized making contact over going for the power swing, enabling them to succeed in close games.

“It’s beautiful,” Tatís said. “It’s amazing. I haven’t seen nothing like how good we have been this year on those occasions.”

The Giants were scoreless in 32 innings, three shy of the San Francisco record set in 1976, before Donovan Walton's solo homer in the sixth against Martín Pérez. Manny Machado had hit a sacrifice fly in the top half.

Tatís homered against Tyler Rogers in the eighth, his fourth home run in five games.

Arráez extended his streak to 140 at-bats without a strikeout for the Padres. It’s the longest since Juan Pierre went 147 at-bats without a strikeout in 2004. Arráez also had two hits to extend his hit streak to 13 games.

After calling his players’ defensive effort in an 8-0 loss on Saturday “not major league quality,” Giants manager Bob Melvin had his team go through defensive drills in both the infield and outfield before Sunday’s game.

Melvin said 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 working on 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).”

The Giants had one error on Sunday when Mark Canha misplayed a grounder to first by Donovan Solano in the sixth that put runners on first and second with no outs. Jurickson Profar sacrificed and Machado's fly 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.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Giants: INF Tyler Fitzgerald (lower back tightness) could return on Tuesday after missing the series. An MRI revealed no structural damage.

UP NEXT

Padres: RHP Yu Darvish (5-3, 3.52) starts Monday night in the opener of a three-game series against visiting Houston, which starts rookie RHP Spencer Arrighetti (7-12, 4.72).

Giants: LHP Blake Snell (3-3, 3.52 ERA) is scheduled to start on Tuesday night at Baltimore, which goes with Albert Suárez (8-5, 3.39) in the opener of a three-game series.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

San Diego Padres' Jake Cronenworth, right, is congratulated by Kyle Higashioka, wearing the number 21 on his jersey in honor of Roberto Clemente, after scoring during the tenth inning of a baseball game against the San Francisco Giants in San Francisco, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

San Diego Padres catcher Kyle Higashioka, left, celebrates with pitcher Adrian Morejon, right, after they defeated the San Francisco Giants in 10 innings of a baseball game in San Francisco, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

San Diego Padres' David Peralta gestures after hitting an RBI single against the San Francisco Giants during the 10th inning of a baseball game in San Francisco, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

San Francisco Giants manager Bob Melvin, left, and pitching coach Bryan Price watch from the dugout during the ninth inning of a baseball game against the San Diego Padres in San Francisco, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

San Francisco Giants' Heliot Ramos celebrates after hitting a home run against the San Diego Padres during the ninth inning of a baseball game in San Francisco, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

San Diego Padres pitcher Robert Suarez works against the San Francisco Giants during the ninth inning of a baseball game in San Francisco, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

San Francisco Giants' Heliot Ramos, right, hits a home run in front of San Diego Padres catcher Kyle Higashioka during the ninth inning of a baseball game in San Francisco, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

San Diego Padres' Luis Arraez watches his double during the 10th inning of a baseball game against the San Francisco Giants in San Francisco, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

San Diego Padres' David Peralta slides home to score against the San Francisco Giants during the 10th inning of a baseball game in San Francisco, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love is practicing again for the first time since injuring his left medial collateral ligament, but the team remained circumspect about his chances of playing Sunday at Tennessee.

Love worked out on a limited basis Wednesday, and the Packers weren't providing details on how much he did. When he was asked on multiple occasions on Love's workload, coach Matt LaFleur simply repeated that “he was limited.”

“I’m going to take the week and just take it day by day and see how it feels, but I’m not going to make any decision on that right now,” Love said. “I’m hopeful that I’ll get to that point where I can get in there, but we’re just going to take it day by day and see.”

Love hadn’t practiced at all last week and didn’t play Sunday in a 16-10 victory over the Indianapolis Colts, which marked the first game he had missed since taking over as Green Bay’s starting quarterback last season.

He hurt his knee on the third-to-last play of the Packers’ season-opening 34-29 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles on Sept. 6 in Brazil. Love was being pressured by Jalen Carter and Josh Sweat as he threw a backward pass to Josh Jacobs. Carter was lying down and had a hold of Love’s left leg when Sweat pushed the quarterback to the ground.

"I was telling people it’s the most pain I’ve been in,” Love said. “So, you know, just a lot of emotions, but definitely very painful and didn’t know in the moment what might have happened, what the injury actually was, how long I might be out."

Love acknowledged feeling concerned about the severity of his injury on the flight back to the United States.

“I tore a meniscus (in his right knee) in college, but I've never had an ACL (tear) or anything like that, so I didn't know what that felt like, didn't know what that might be,” Love said. “A lot of thoughts went through my head, for sure.”

Little did he know at the time he'd be practicing again less than two weeks later.

“You can see that he feels more comfortable just moving around the building, the way he was out there today," backup quarterback Malik Willis said.

One of the challenges facing Love is the likelihood that he will be playing with a brace on his knee. Love noted that he's done it before, when he had the meniscus injury during his college career at Utah State.

“It’s a piece of metal on your knee, so (you're) definitely not as fast, but it’s one of those things that you just got to adjust,” Love said. “It’s going to help protect me and keep me stable in everything I do, so might change my game a little bit, but at the end of the day, I’m not a receiver that has to run all these crazy routes downfield, things like that."

If Love isn’t able to play Sunday, Willis would take the field to face his former team. The Packers acquired Willis from Tennessee (0-2) for a 2025 seventh-round draft pick in a trade that was announced Aug. 27.

“We have to prepare to go play the Packers offense, whether it’s with Malik or with Jordan,” Titans coach Brian Callahan said. “Schematically, it varies a little bit, but at the end of the day, we have to do our jobs well. We have to execute, be fundamentally sound, and if you spend too much time worrying about that part of it, you lose track of what we need to be for our identity and our defense.”

Willis went 12 of 14 for 122 yards with his first career touchdown pass and no turnovers against Indianapolis while also running for 41 yards on six carries as the Packers used a run-heavy approach in Love’s absence.

The Packers ran 53 times for 261 yards, getting their highest output in rushing yards since 2003 and their largest total in carries since 1978.

“I think what we did last week gives everybody more confidence going forward if I’m not cleared this week,” Love said. “So I love that. I love that we got the ‘W’ and it’s a big confidence boost moving forward into this next week.”

NOTES: OL Elgton Jenkins (illness/glute), OL Jordan Morgan (shoulder), WR Jayden Reed (calf) and CB Carrington Valentine (ankle) didn't practice Wednesday. Love, DL Kenny Clark (toe), DL Kingsley Enagbare (groin), RB Josh Jacobs (back), TE Tucker Kraft (shoulder), C Josh Myers (ankle), OT Zach Tom (quadriceps) and OT Rasheed Walker (shoulder) practiced on a limited basis. ... The Packers signed WR Cornelius Johnson to their practice squad. The Los Angeles Chargers had selected Johnson out of Michigan in the seventh round of this year's draft.

AP Pro Football Writer Teresa M. Walker contributed to this report.

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

Injured Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love looks on as head coach Matt LaFleur walks by during the first half of an NFL football game against the Indianapolis Colts Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Mike Roemer)

Injured Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love, left, stands with head coach Matt LaFleur for the Natioanl Anthem before the start of an NFL football game against the Indianapolis Colts Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love (10) in helped off the field after getting hurt during the second half of an NFL football game against the Philadelphia Eagles, Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024, at the Neo Quimica Arena in Sao Paulo. (AP Photo/Doug Benc)

Injured Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love, left, stans with his temamtes for the Natioanl Anthem before the start of an NFL football game against the Indianapolis Colts Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)