Giants showcase their trade deadline wares in first winning homestand since April

SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco Giants made a lineup change an hour before first pitch Sunday afternoon. Casey Schmitt, who had been the starter in left field, got leveled by the flu-like illness that has been circulating through the clubhouse in recent days.

Schmitt, following a pregame roster move to add outfielder Heliot Ramos and designated utilityman Buddy Kennedy, also happened to be the only backup infielder on the Giants’ bench. And that became mighty inconvenient in the seventh inning, when shortstop Willy Adames swung through a pitch, grimaced with lower back pain and made a tapping-out gesture to the dugout.

“Going into the cage and telling him he was at shortstop, it was like waking a drunk guy up for a job interview,” Giants manager Tony Vitello said of Schmitt. “He didn’t look good. If you were watching his body language, he was hurting. We’ve had a few guys absolutely battle through some stuff to be out there.”

Schmitt couldn’t knock down a two-out single from Atlanta’s Dominic Smith, but Giants closer Caleb Kilian recovered and retired another ex-Giant, pinch-hitter Mike Yastrzemski, to protect a 3-2 victory. Left-hander Robbie Ray outpitched Braves ace Chris Sale as the Giants finished the week 4-2 against the Braves and Athletics to clinch their first winning homestand since April.

With Ray and Logan Webb pitching like co-aces in June, the Giants might have some actual wind in their sails for the first time all season as they begin a road trip against the Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies. The sobering reality, however, is that this is a 35-48 team that already has been blown too far off course. And for some of them, the next five weeks will resemble an audition ahead of the Aug. 3 trade deadline.

Ray continued his reinvention into a two-seam fastball pitcher, churning efficient contact outs and taking a shutout into the eighth inning before allowing an unearned run. The left-hander hasn’t allowed an earned run in four of his last five outings. The Giants used three infield hits and two errors to score a pair of runs against Sale in the sixth inning, then Matt Chapman’s double set up Luis Arraez’s sacrifice fly in the seventh.

A month from now, perhaps Ray will go from outdueling Sale to following him in the Braves rotation. Atlanta figures to be among the clubs most active prior to the deadline. Judging from the lineup the Braves sent against Ray, with three lefties among the top five hitters, they probably could use a right-handed bat as well.

The Giants might have one of those to offer, too. Ramos was a lefty masher while making the NL All-Star team two seasons ago, and he was off to a good start against southpaws this season before losing six weeks to a right quadriceps strain. Ramos had the only hard-hit single against Sale in the Giants’ two-run rally. Through six innings, the Braves accounted for 13 of the 15 hardest hit balls in play; Ramos had the other two.

Unlike Ray or Arraez, who are impending free agents, the Giants have no urgent reason to get what they can at the deadline for Ramos, who is approaching his first year of arbitration eligibility and won’t be a free agent until 2030. If a contender needs a right-handed bat, though, there could be an opportunity for the Giants to address what has become an imbalanced roster for both the short and not-so-short term.

In Sunday’s original lineup, the Giants had Schmitt in left field and Victor Bericoto in right with Jung Hoo Lee playing center, where he has previously graded out as a deficient defender. Ramos slotted in at designated hitter, which won’t be an option most of the time. It made sense to spare rookie Bryce Eldridge a difficult left-on-left matchup with Sale. For the most part, though, Eldridge has been too productive as a DH to sit, and Rafael Devers remains an immovable presence at either first base or DH.

Some of the logjam might be cleared by the trade deadline, assuming the Giants trade Arraez, whose excellent contact skills figure to be a boon for a playoff-bound team. That would create an avenue to everyday playing time for Schmitt at second base for the rest of the season.

Come to think of it, the Braves might also want to trade for Arraez, but a match might not be so simple between the teams. The Braves’ farm system isn’t stacked these days, and their best pitching prospects profile as mid-rotation arms. The Giants should be aiming for more as they seek to create compelling rotation options for next season.

Right now, San Francisco’s top two starters could anchor almost anyone’s rotation. Webb, after dominating the Braves in a game that was over in 122 minutes Saturday night, posted a 0.71 ERA in June and limited hitters to a .148 average. Ray finished the month with a 1.36 ERA, and the Giants have won each of the last seven times he’s taken the mound.

Vitello mentioned that the talk in the coaches’ room Saturday night focused on preparing to face Sale in the series finale. He had to remind the group that the Giants’ starter was pretty good, too.

“We have Robbie Ray,” Vitello said. “Webby and him are 1-A and 1-B. They showed you what they can do, and what it meant was a series win, because we kind of climbed on their back. … And that should give you confidence going forward.”

Even if Ray is essentially auditioning for the rest of the league?

“No, I don’t see that. There’s been no talk of that,” Vitello said. “You’ve got to be cautious about having the feeling of wanting to go on this magic run, you know, of four wins in a row or eight wins in a row, and just keep playing good baseball. … You wish you had a dry-erase board and you can make it go away. … But guys have been playing good ball. We’re looking for that deal where the position players and the pitchers are in sync. If we do that with guys like Robbie Ray, we’ll be in a good spot.”

The Giants’ infield depth isn’t in such a good spot. Adames said he has been dealing with back discomfort for more than a week, and it locked up in his first at-bat Sunday. When he swung through three consecutive pitches in the seventh, he knew he couldn’t continue. He assumed he would get an MRI on Monday and wasn’t sure how available he would be on the upcoming road trip.

“But you know me,” said Adames, who seldom takes a day off. “So we’ll see.”

Even if Adames is merely day to day, the Giants, as currently constructed, don’t have enough coverage at shortstop. Christian Koss, who fractured his left wrist on May 23 while playing for Triple-A Sacramento, has played four rehab games in the Arizona Complex League, so he’d be a crosstown drive away from meeting the club at Chase Field for the Diamondbacks series. With the Giants primarily in need of defensive coverage, Vitello acknowledged that Koss would be a candidate even if his timing at the plate is nowhere near ready.

If Adames is sore enough to land on the IL, perhaps a 10-day break will do him some good.

“I feel like this year there has been always something going on with my body,” said Adames, who is in the second season of a seven-year, $182 million contract. “That’s how it is. There’s always something happening, and you have to grind it out. This year has been the worst, but we’re working on it.

“It sucks. Obviously, I want to be out there every day. It feels like we’re getting some momentum. That’s why I want to be out there tomorrow.”