After posting a sub-.500 road record in their first season under manager Bob Melvin in 2024, the San Francisco Giants entered this campaign pressed to start on a positive note away from Oracle Park.
With their 3-1 interleague victory at the Houston Astros on Tuesday, the Giants (4-1) guaranteed they will enter their home opener this weekend against the Seattle Mariners with a winning record.
San Francisco secured its second road series win by stifling the Astros and followed a road series victory against the Cincinnati Reds last weekend by claiming its fourth consecutive series win over Houston.
The Giants will pursue the three-game series sweep on Wednesday afternoon.
“Our road record (38-43) wasn’t very good last year, and you know we’re going to start on the road,” Melvin said. “It’s kind of important with the spring that we had to get off to a good start. On top of that, to win a series in Cincinnati is huge, and now we’ve taken the first two here. Now it’s about trying to get greedy (Wednesday).”
Right-hander Landen Roupp (1-2, 3.58 ERA in 2024) will make his season debut for the Giants in the series finale on Wednesday.
Roupp broke camp with the club for a second consecutive year, making 23 appearances (four starts) as a rookie while posting 47 strikeouts in 50 1/3 innings. He went 1-2 with a 3.86 ERA and 14 strikeouts in 18 2/3 innings after joining the rotation on Sept. 10.
Roupp will make his first career appearance against the Astros. He is 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA over five appearances (one start) against the American League.
Left-hander Framber Valdez (1-0, 0.00 ERA) has the starting assignment on Wednesday as the Astros seek to avert the series sweep.
Valdez worked seven scoreless innings against the New York Mets on Opening Day, allowing four hits and two walks with four strikeouts in a 3-1 victory. He joined Dallas Keuchel (in 2015 and 2017) as the only pitchers in club history to work seven scoreless innings while surrendering four or fewer hits on Opening Day.
Valdez surpassed Keuchel for the most Opening Day starts by a southpaw in club history with his fourth.
Valdez is 1-2 with a 5.40 ERA over three career starts against the Giants. He took a 5-3 road loss on June 12, 2024, after allowing five runs on eight hits and one walk over four innings.
The Astros continued their offensive struggles to open the season, recording one extra-base hit while grounding into three double plays and finishing just 0-for-2 with runners in scoring position on Tuesday. The Astros have nine runs in the first five games of their six-game homestand.
Excluding Jose Altuve, who homered Tuesday and has hit safely in all five games, the Astros are receiving little production up and down their lineup. Seven of their Opening Day starters are batting below .200, with slugger Yordan Alvarez going 1-for-16 with six strikeouts.
“It’s just a matter of being patient and letting these good hitters come through at some point,” Astros manager Joe Espada said. “Which they will.”
–Field Level Media
