SF Giants must win out to finish .500 after loss to Cardinals

SAN FRANCISCO — Jerar Encarnacion homered and the Giants earned an early lead, but rookie starter Landen Roupp had an uncharacteristic blow-up, pitting San Francisco in too deep a deficit.

While playing from behind, the Giants squandered a couple chances, then couldn’t create any more during the late innings in a 6-3 loss. To finish .500 on the season, the Giants (79-81) must win each of their final two games at Oracle Park.

Mathematically eliminated from the postseason, the Giants have played their best ball of late. In September, San Francisco went on its longest winning streak of the season and put together a historically productive 9-2 road trip. Matt Chapman, the 2024 Willie Mac Award winner, is approaching the franchise’s first 30-homer season since Barry Bonds and young players like Tyler Fitzgerald, Heliot Ramos, and Ryan Walker are contributing regularly.

But the momentum didn’t carry into Friday night.

Roupp, the rookie righty who has impressed in the second half, served up a run in the first inning on two singles and a walk. Roupp entered the night with a 10-inning scoreless streak over two five-inning starts.

San Francisco responded in the second with a mammoth blast from Encarnacion. The right fielder smoked a 1-2 hanging curveball from St. Louis starter Miles Mikolas over the Giants’ bullpen in center field. His fifth home run had an exit velocity of 108.8 mph and carried 430 feet.

San Francisco added another run after Encarnacion’s blast, as Mike Yastrzemski drove Brett Wisely home with a double off the right-field bricks.

But with a 3-1 lead, Roupp imploded.

The rookie surrendered a solo home run to center to Lars Nootbaar in the third inning and then couldn’t get out of the fourth. A costly balk led to a game-tying double off the wall in left field from Masyn Winn. Winn then came around to score on a single past Brett Wisely, putting St. Louis up 4-3.

Pitching coach Bryan Price paid Roupp a visit with two outs in the fourth. One pitch later, Nolan Arenado ripped a ground-rule double into the left-field corner, ending Roupp’s night.

Taylor Rogers inherited Cardinals on second and third from Roupp, and he couldn’t rescue the starter. A Nootbaar triple off the southpaw added two more earned runs to Roupp’s line (3.2 IP, 9H, 6ER, 4K, 2BB) and put the Giants behind, 6-3. And by then, the Giants’ offense was cold.

Roupp’s start was a completely different story than his second half. Since August, Roupp had a 0.89 ERA in 30.1 innings before the Cardinals matchup.

Instead, he put the Giants in a hole. Matt Chapman, awarded the 2024 Willie Mac Award pregame, doubled to put runners on second and third in the third inning, but San Francisco came up empty. A lack of hitting with runners on base, a common bugaboo this season, prevented the Giants from scoring any runs after the third inning.

San Francisco went 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position overall — and 0-for-0 in that situation over the last three innings.

Camilo Doval, the embattled former closer, tossed a 1-2-3 seventh for his third straight scoreless inning — perhaps turning the corner on an otherwise disastrous season.

Even if finishing .500 is a tangible goal, eyes in San Francisco have been turned to 2025 for weeks now. Doval rediscovering his All-Star stuff could go a long way next year, when everyone starts 0-0.

“I know this season didn’t end the way we wanted it to, but we’re building here and we’re going to finish strong,” Chapman said after accepting the Willie Mac plaque. “And next year, we’re going to start something and we’re not going to stop.”