SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Heliot Ramos is back from the World Baseball Classic and still bleach blond, the hairstyle adopted by all of the Puerto Rican team. He plans to keep it.
“F— it,” the Giants outfielder declared upon his return to the team. “I want to do braids.”
Still, some of Ramos’ teammates will have an even more lasting way to remember the tournament. Luis Arraez, Jose Butto and Logan Webb all had a little extra weight in their luggage returning from Miami.
Arraez and Butto earned their gold medals with key contributions in Venezuela’s 3-2 win in the championship game Tuesday night over Team USA inside a sold-out loanDepot Park. Webb helped the Americans reach the title game but settled for silver.
Back in Scottsdale, Giants manager Tony Vitello watched the game with some members of his coaching staff as the team enjoyed a day off.
“It was a phenomenal final game of the tournament,” Vitello said. Bryce Harper tied the score at 2 with a two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth, which Vitello called “a pretty magical moment, even despite the loss, I think that will still be remembered as such.”
Harper’s game-tying homer set up Arraez to lead off the top of the ninth. He was hitless in three at-bats when he came to the plate against Garrett Whitlock. The typically aggressive Arraez worked a walk and was replaced by a pinch-runner who scored what became the decisive run.
“As soon as Bryce hit that homer … the first thing I said was, ‘Our guy’s leading off, so they’d better score,’” Vitello said. “He found a way to get on base. You kind of knew even more so that he’d get on base because he hadn’t (yet). I feel like determination climbs as the situation grows for him.”
Aaron Judge came to the plate as the potential tying run with Venezuela leading 2-0 in the sixth inning, and Butto got the Yankees slugger to ground out to end the inning. The Giants’ bullpen hopeful didn’t allow a run over 5 2/3 innings in the tournament, and Vitello sees him as a high-leverage option.
“It makes sense that when you go out there and the crowd is the loudest baseball crowd arguably ever and the hitters are all major-league All-Stars,” Vitello said. “He is incredibly pro-like in his work everyday. Almost one of our more militaristic — not that he doesn’t have personality — but how he handles his business.”
The Giants were the only team in the majors represented more than once on the All-WBC team. Webb, who made two starts and allowed one run over 8 2/3 innings, was one of three pitchers selected. Arraez, who batted .308 with a 1.059 OPS and drove in 10 runs, earned the lone honor at first base.
Jung Hoo Lee helped Korea advance out of the group stage for the first time since 2009 — when he was 10 years old — and Ramos started all five games for Puerto Rico, which also made it to the quarterfinals.
Vitello hopes the Giants can reap the benefits all their representatives took away from the tournament. Dave Groeschner, their head trainer, joined Webb on Team USA. Longtime coaches Ron Wotus and Dave Righetti were part of Team Italy’s coaching staff.
“More than I think there’s a story to tell for all those teams,” Vitello said. “Venezuela obviously had the passion going. Italy had kind of a cool little culture going on. Webby and Groesch will be able to tell us about what is it like to manage that many stars in one dugout.”
Arraez, Butto and Webb were all expected back in camp Wednesday. As long as there were no travel complications, Vitello said he expected Webb to make his next Cactus League start on Thursday.
