Matt Chapman set the tone early for the Giants, giving Landen Roupp the run support he needed to have his best start of the season so far as the Giants defeated the Angels tonight.
The San Francisco Giants bounced back from last night’s shutout loss and defeated the Los Angeles Angels 3-2.
Landen Roupp was in fine form, allowing just two runs on five hits with nine strikeouts and a walk in seven innings. He set the tone early, striking out the first three batters he faced and really only had trouble with Mike Trout. As you do. Trout was a one-man offense for the Angels, scoring both of their runs on solo homers. But he is Mike Trout. So, in Trout-adjusted terms, that’s basically a shutout.
It probably helped that Roupp entered the game with a two-run lead. In the top of the first, Willy Adames battled with Angels starting pitcher Kyle Hendricks, working a full count into a walk and then advancing on a weakly-hit grounder from Jung Hoo Lee.
This set the stage for Chapman to hit a two-run shot to the bullpen in left field on the second pitch he saw of the night.
NOT GETTING SHUTOUT TONIGHT pic.twitter.com/wyJYPLU7B2
— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) April 20, 2025
In the top of the third inning, Mike Yastrzemski hit a line drive to right that he managed to stretch into a double. Adames followed that up by hitting his own line drive to the same area. Yastrzemski was waved home, but Adames really had no business pushing for second. He got himself into a rundown for his trouble and was ultimately tagged out.
Side note: I would like to formally petition all MLB stadiums to play circus music when players get into a rundown. I’m not sure how they would make that happen, they would have to be incredibly fast on the draw. But I think it would be hilarious, because it already plays in my head when I watch one.
Anyway, that was it for run scoring. As I mentioned already, Trout hit two solo home runs, both off of Roupp, in the fourth and sixth innings. Meanwhile, Roupp was still dealing and striking folks out at the end of the seventh inning, after which he was pulled for Tyler Rogers. Rogers pitched a clean eighth inning with a strikeout, and then Ryan Walker entered to pitch the ninth.
Walker got to face Trout for his first batter of the game. No pressure, a one-run lead and facing the dude that hit two home runs in his previous two at-bats. Easy. After a pitch missed inside and nearly hit Trout in a place no one wants to get hit by a baseball, Trout hit it to left field and fooled Patrick Bailey into thinking it was gone. But it was, in fact, caught in dramatic fashion by Heliot Ramos as he crashed against the wall.
Jorge Soler, however, had better luck. He hit a line-drive single that had tensions rising. Well, it had my stress rising anyway. Specifically because Tim Anderson entered to pinch-run for him and could have easily tied the game with his speed.
But I needn’t have worried. Stellar defensive work from Chapman got Logan O’Hoppe out on a ground ball. Chapman slipped attempting to make the play and still beat O’Hoppe with the throw to LaMonte Wade, Jr.. And Nolan Schanuel lined out to center field to end the game.
Now, I have never claimed to be good at analysis. I’m more of a story-teller and assessor of vibes. So here’s what stood out to me in this game, as my first recap of the 2025 season and team.
It was a short one, clocking in at just about two hours even. I note that because two hour games tend to be full of strikeouts, in my experience. The Giants may have gone down in order four times, but they did so mostly making contact. As a team, they only struck out three times. They are seeing the ball well and making good contact.
That might not stand out to you, but I am somewhat of a connoisseur of bad Giants offense. I have probably spent more time in my life than I care to think about watching Giants hitters work a full count, hit a bunch of foul balls, then strike out. Or make weak contact that undoes any efforts made before them. Hours. Probably days. Maybe even weeks of my life watching feckless offense.
So the speed of play was a stark contrast from offenses of yore, who oftentimes felt like they were doing their best to luck into a walk, rather than attempting to actually get a hit.
It’s good baseball and I love to see it.