Six walks — more than the hits Landen Roupp allowed, innings he pitched, strikeouts he recorded, hits the Giants recorded, runs the Giants scored in Tuesday’s 8-2 loss to the Diamondbacks.
Two walks in the 1st…and a three run homer to Lourdes Gurriel.
Two walks in the 2nd.
Two walks in the 3rd…including one with the bases-loaded, and a 2-RBI single by Ketel Marte.
How can Landen Roupp be so predictable while being so wild and ineffective? The funny thing is this kind of bad doesn’t make him that interesting. This wasn’t a freak show occurrence, or some pitching anomaly. Roupp was the 23rd pitcher in the Majors this year to walk at least 6 players in a game. He wasn’t even the first Giant — Robbie Ray walked 7 White Sox batters on May 24th, and San Francisco won that game! He didn’t even distinguish himself on this random Tuesday: there were two other pitchers across the league, Eric Cerantola of the Royals and Trey Gibson of the Orioles, who also walked 6 batters.
In terms of individual achievement though, Roupp did “out-do” himself. His 6 walks handed out were the most he’s allowed in a single game. In terms of workload, 2.2 innings pitched was the shortest outing of the season. He’s now winless in his last 11 games, and the team is as well. The streak grinds on — the Giants haven’t won a game that Roupp started since April 26.
Over that span, Roupp’s ERA has risen two clean points, from 2.55 to 4.55. Despite Tuesday’s 6 base—on-balls-a-thon, his walks-per-nine has only flinched upwards from 3.6 to 4 BB/9. His strikeouts have stayed steady too, hovering around 10 K/9. The key outs Roupp has stopped getting are on balls in play. While his overall numbers in terms of limiting hard-contact are very positive, he’s still getting burned on contact.
During this losing streak, opponents batting average on balls in play rose from .205 to .326, while their overall average jumped from .149 to .243.
Ketel Marte’s third-inning dinky-doink single to left shouldn’t ruin a starter’s night. It shouldn’t chase them off the mound, but when the bases are already congested with runners thanks to free passes and other dinky-doink singles then that kind of contact becomes devastating.
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Clearly Roupp hasn’t developed the veteran mindset of a Blake Snell or Robbie Ray. The free passes are rattling him. He hasn’t accepted them as part of his game plan, perhaps because they aren’t. He has no idea where the next pitch is going, and that’s a pretty scary prospect for someone paid to throw pitches. Effectively wild as a strategy only goes so far when facing disciplined hitters. Yeah, you’ll get the odd chase out of the zone, or freeze ‘em with a painted sinker — but you’ll never feel like you’re in control. The very act of throwing the baseball will feel like an impossible chore. Each pitch thrown, a coin toss. Geraldo Perdomo took a 3-2 curveball well below the zone for a walk in the 1st. Next at-bat, Corbin Carroll flailed at a chin-level cutter for strike 3. Gabriel Moreno then walked on four straight pitches that had no affiliation with the strike zone. By the time Gurriel got his 2-0 sinker to launch, Roupp had thrown six consecutive misses. He worked himself into a corner because he couldn’t find the corners. No control meant no options.
Here, Mr. Gurriel, is that fastball over the heart of the plate you ordered.
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Giants and Diamondbacks played a game, but it wasn’t much of one. Arizona’s starter, Brandon Pfaadt who had lost his spot in the rotation and spent a lot of June in Triple-A, made his first start since April and cruised through 5.1 innings pitched. Luis Arraez came up a double shy of the cycle and owned all of the Giants hits until Rafael Devers’s solo shot in the 7th inning. So yeah, the offense didn’t show up again. Luckily they snuck out the stadium’s backdoor unnoticed thanks to Roupp’s more in-your-face ineptitude drawing our ire.
The Giants are teetering on the edge of their third series sweep at the hands of the Diamondbacks this season. Tune in later today to see if they commit and swan dive into the abyss!
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