Landen Roupp matches ugly Giants record with loss to Diamondbacks
PHOENIX — The circumstances were too overwhelming to lead to any other result.Of course, with Landen Roupp on the mound, against the Diamondbacks, the Giants were going to fall Tuesday night.There have been no other outcomes in games involving either this particular San Francisco starting pitcher or the opponent he faced since the first month of the season.And, as predicted in the world’s most obvious crystal ball, exactly that transpired.Roupp matched an ignominious franchise record by starting the 11th straight game the Giants have lost behind him, and the Giants reached a level of futility against one foe also seen just once before in the San Francisco era.In arguably the least effective start of his winless streak, Roupp walked six batters, served up a gargantuan three-run blast to Lourdes Gurriel Jr.
and was out of the game before the third inning was over in an 8-2 loss, the Giants’ eighth in a row against the Diamondbacks.It’s the worst start to a season against a single opponent since San Francisco also lost its first eight games of the 1977 season against the Cubs.The positive? They finally prevailed in their ninth and final meeting of the season.So there’s hope still.But it wasn’t going to happen Tuesday, which quickly became apparent.Just about nothing was working from the get-go for Roupp, who put the Giants in a 3-0 hole by the time he recorded the third out of the first inning.
He walked the second batter of the game and put another runner on with four straight balls to Gabriel Moreno.His troubles finding the strike zone persisted against the next batter, falling behind 2-0 to Gurriel.The next pitch Roupp put over the plate, Gurriel deposited into the left-field seats.Roupp issued two more walks in the second, including to the leadoff man, and got out of the inning with the only damage to his pitch count.
But he wasn’t so fortunate the next time around.Once again, Roupp put the first batter of the inning on base with his fifth free pas...