San Francisco Giants right-hander Landen Roupp, who hasn’t allowed a run in his past two starts, will look to extend that streak during a Wednesday matinee against the host Detroit Tigers.
Detroit won the first two games of the three-game series, each by a 3-1 count.
The stats from Roupp’s last two outings look very similar. He held the Athletics to five hits in six innings on May 17. On Friday, he did the same against Washington. His outing against the Nationals was a little more efficient — he threw 76 pitches, 16 fewer than his previous appearance.
“With a lot of lefties, you hang your curveball, you get hit pretty hard,” Roupp said. “I was pretty confident in my changeup and my cutter (Friday). I think this game gives me more confidence than the last one, just because of that reason. In the past, I haven’t been that good to lefties just because I’ve never had four pitches. Just throwing all my pitches really helped.”
Roupp (3-3, 3.63 ERA) will be making his 11th start of the season. He was used out of the bullpen in 19 of his 23 appearances last season, including a scoreless two-inning relief outing against the Tigers on Aug. 9.
He will be opposed by rookie right-hander Jackson Jobe (4-1, 4.06 ERA), who was tagged with his first loss on Friday despite holding Cleveland to two runs in five innings. Detroit had won all of his previous eight starts.
The Guardians produced both of their runs off Jobe in the first inning.
“You just try to keep it simple and attack the zone,” he said. “That first inning they hit some balls that got down, I guess you can say, and scored some runs. I just continued to trust my stuff and let the defense work. It’s not the best I’ve felt physically all year, that’s for sure. But I felt like I battled well.”
His manager was pleased with the way Jobe buckled down after the Guardians’ early rally.
“I was really proud of Jackson for how he responded,” A.J. Hinch said. “It’s a different lineup with eight of the nine being left-handed. It brings in the breaking ball. It brings in the command. The fastballs that were getting (hit) early was because he would get ahead and then let them back into the count and get behind. They did a good job of putting the ball in play, which is their calling card.”
Detroit has won three in a row following a three-game losing streak. The Tigers’ staff has given up just two runs total during the short streak.
The offense got a boost on Tuesday from outfielder Wenceel Perez, who homered in his first at-bat of the season. Perez had been on the injured list due to a back injury. He replaced Matt Vierling, who returned to the IL because of an inflamed right shoulder.
The Tigers will wrap up their seven-game homestand on Wednesday. They will play their next seven games on the road against American League Central Division opponents, with a weekend series against the Kansas City Royals to be followed by a four-game set against the Chicago White Sox.
The Giants are 2-3 on a nine-game road trip that continues with a three-game series against the Miami Marlins, beginning on Friday.
–Field Level Media
