SF Giants snap four-game losing streak as tempers flare vs. Reds
CINCINNATI - The Giants desperately needed a stopper. Landen Roupp played that role to perfection.
Roupp turned in his finest start of the season as the Giants beat the Reds 3-0 to snap a four-game losing streak on Thursday afternoon at Great American Ball Park. Roupp pitched six shutout innings and no-hit the Reds for the first five frames.
“I just wanted to go out there and be a stopper, stop the bleeding and get us back on the right track,” said Roupp, who has a 2.38 ERA through four starts. “I just wanted to go out there today and throw strikes and give the team the best chance to win.”
“I don’t think it’s a coincidence that … whenever we need him so far this season, he steps up,” said left-hander Erik Miller, who recorded his first career save. “Having that stopper kind of thing is so valuable.”
San Francisco’s offense didn’t exactly break out by scoring three runs, but right fielder Jung Hoo Lee went 3-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored. During this road trip, Lee is 10-for-23 (.434) with three RBIs and three runs scored.
If the drama on Wednesday night was the opener, then the fireworks on Thursday afternoon were the main act.
In the bottom of the second, Roupp plunked Spencer Steer with a first-pitch four-seam fastball, a pitch he had only thrown five times this season entering play. Steer was at the plate when JT Brubaker had his fiery moment Wednesday, shouting at the reliever to "throw the (expletive) ball" after Brubaker's back-and-forth with umpire Quinn Wolcott.
When Roupp was asked what happened on the pitch that hit Steer, Roupp offered a sly smile and said it “slipped.”
That was the end of the extracurriculars until the top of the eighth inning. With the Giants leading 3-0, the Reds’ Connor Phillips started his matchup against Willy Adames with an inside fastball that Adames had to dodge. Phillips went back to the well on the next pitch and plunked Adames, prompting some consternation from San Francisco’s shortstop.
Several Giants players and coaches emerged from the dugout and went onto the field, but the tensions were relatively mild. Phillips was then ejected from the game despite no warning being issued.
After Miller struck out Sal Stewart to end the game, both benches cleared after Stewart took exception to Miller saying, “Sit the (expletive) down.”
“I was just fired up and probably let the emotions get the best of me,” Miller said. “I’m not trying to direct anything specifically to him. I have no problem with him. I just said a sentence that most hitters probably don’t like to hear, so I can understand why he was upset. It was just more like I was really fired up. It wasn’t anything personal.”
Manager Tony Vitello also had a tense moment with home plate umpire Junior Valentine in the top of the third after Patrick Bailey hit into an inning-ending double play. Vitello did not clarify what sparked the moment, but it may have had to do with right-hander Chase Burns — who Vitello coached at Tennessee — not taking enough time after coming set.
“The pick-off move and then coming set (quick) a couple of times, you’ve got everybody in the dugout - and sometimes guys are yelling stuff just to yell stuff - but I think an accumulation of six or seven different people saying things got him riled up,” Vitello said of the umpire. “Probably for good reason.”
Roupp didn’t allow his first hit of the afternoon until No. 9 hitter P.J. Higgins led off the bottom of the sixth with a single. The right-hander followed Higgins’ single by plunking Pleasanton’s TJ Friedl, giving the Reds runners on first and second with no outs. With his back against the wall, Roupp found a way out of trouble.
Matt McLain attempted to lay down a sacrifice bunt, but Roupp ended up recording a strikeout after McLain bunted his first two attempts foul. Roupp then got Elly De La Cruz to hit into an inning-ending 4-6-3 double play, one that second baseman Luis Arraez and shortstop Willy Adames quickly and perfectly turned.
“I wish he could maybe teach a masterclass to some kids I coached in college where he’s got a competitive edge, but a lot of times, those guys that have that, it’ll boil over and, at times, it can get out of control,” Vitello said of Roupp. “He seems to always be able to keep himself level-headed, grounded, whatever you want to phrase it as, yet maintain … that bulldog mentality.”
In the top of the seventh, De La Cruz set the table for the Giants’ three-run rally by booting a routine grounder from Arraez. San Francisco didn’t let the extra out go to waste.
Matt Chapman broke the scoreless tie with a double to left-center that scored Arraez, then Chapman scored on Lee’s bloop single. After Heliot Ramos drew a pinch-hit walk, Schmitt muscled a single to center that scored Lee. After San Francisco had its first lead of the series, and chants of “Let’s go, Giants” broke out in the lower bowl.
Following Roupp’s departure, Ryan Walker pitched a scoreless seventh, Keaton Winn followed with a scoreless eighth and Miller shut the door in the ninth for his first career save.
Next up
The Giants travel to Washington D.C. for three games against the Washington Nationals, the last leg of their three-city road trip. Logan Webb (1-2, 5.25 ERA) will look to rebound from what has been a tough start to his season as he faces former Giant Zack Littell (0-1, 4.20 ERA).
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This story was originally published April 16, 2026 at 12:33 PM.