Luciano gets look at 2nd base, delivers RBI in late rally

SAN FRANCISCO -- The Giants haven’t been mathematically eliminated yet, but with their playoff odds increasingly not in their favor, it’s becoming clear that they’re ready to turn their attention to 2025.

The Giants telegraphed that shift on Tuesday, when they promoted a pair of 22-year-olds -- Marco Luciano and Luis Matos -- from Triple-A Sacramento and optioned Blake Sabol and Casey Schmitt.

“Obviously, they’re here for a reason now, so they’re going to get some at-bats,” manager Bob Melvin said. “But it’s also looking at how things go next year. We’re looking towards next year and what the roster construction will look like then. These are some of our best prospects, and they’re going to get a little bit of a look right now.”

Luciano has been developed primarily as a shortstop, but his latest audition is expected to come at second base, where he’s made only 21 appearances in the Minors. He looked like a work in progress while making his first career Major League start there on Tuesday night, though he tried to make up for it at the plate, delivering an RBI single in the Giants’ 8-7 series-opening loss to the D-backs at Oracle Park.

The Giants trailed, 7-1, in the fifth inning after Kyle Harrison allowed six runs over 2 2/3 innings in the shortest start of his young career, but they got one run back on Matt Chapman’s sixth-inning solo shot and then pulled within one behind a four-run eighth inning that was capped by Luciano’s two-out single to right field.

Matos, who entered the game as a pinch-hitter for Grant McCray in the seventh, had a chance to keep the rally going, but he was rung up on a 101 mph fastball from D-backs right-hander Justin Martinez to end the inning.

The National League West foes traded runs in the ninth, though the Giants’ rally came up short when Jerar Encarnacion went down swinging to leave a pair of runners stranded, dropping the club three games under .500 with 23 games left to play.

“It was great to see the fight at the end,” Melvin said. “We’ve been doing that all year. Just when you think that maybe we let down a little bit with this game, we continue to dig really hard at the plate and finish off games.”

It’s been an up-and-down season for Luciano, who came into Spring Training as the favorite to succeed Brandon Crawford as the Giants’ everyday shortstop. Still, the highly touted prospect ended up opening the year in Triple-A after losing the job to veteran Nick Ahmed. Luciano got a brief callup when Ahmed landed on the injured list with a left wrist sprain in May, but he was sent back down to the Minors after committing five errors in nine games at shortstop.

The Giants appeared to clear another path to playing time for Luciano at designated hitter when they shipped Jorge Soler to the Braves at the Trade Deadline, but he received only 21 at-bats over two weeks before being sent back down to Triple-A.

“It’s something that I can’t control,” Luciano said in Spanish. “I just try to focus on what I can control, which is showing up to the stadium and working hard. If they send me to [Double-A] Richmond, I’ll go to Richmond and give my best there.”

Luciano has always been viewed as a bat-first prospect, though he’ll have a chance to show that he can still be a viable option in the middle infield in September. He’s still working to get more comfortable at second base, as he couldn’t get a throw off after backhanding Adrian Del Castillo’s grounder in the third and then committed an error after dropping Geraldo Perdomo’s bouncer to the right side in the sixth.

“I show up to the stadium every day and take grounders and try to get better,” Luciano said. “You make mistakes, but you try to learn from them. That’s been the learning process.”

“It’s going to feel a little different for him even though he’s played some games there,” Melvin said. “But the bat is good. With consistent at-bats, hopefully he gets on a run offensively and it makes the defense come a little easier for him, too.”

Luciano’s error came with Tristan Beck on the mound, but the 28-year-old Stanford alum managed to pitch around it and cap his impressive 3 1/3-inning outing, which marked his first appearance for the Giants since undergoing surgery to repair an aneurysm in his right arm in March.

Almost exactly six months after the procedure, Beck returned to the big leagues and gave up only one earned run while walking two and striking out four, showcasing the form that helped him record a 3.92 ERA over 33 appearances for San Francisco last year.

“It felt great,” Beck said. “A little bit of jitters walking back in for the first time, but once you get back on the mound, it’s the same old thing. It felt great being back out there helping the team.”