SAN DIEGO — Tony Vitello had trouble sleeping at times in February and March, but not because of all that was on his plate as Giants manager. The dry air in Scottsdale was not exactly kind to his allergies.
Vitello probably didn’t sleep very well when the Giants returned home last week. By all accounts, he was more invested than most managers would be as the Giants sent players back to Triple-A and cut down their roster. Once the games started, Vitello’s team got overwhelmed for three days.
On Monday night, Vitello shouldn’t have any trouble when his head hits the pillow.
The Giants finally won a game, scoring three early runs and riding a dominant pitching performance from Landen Roupp, who had plenty of reasons to savor this night. The 3-2 win over the San Diego Padres kept them from losing their first four games of a season for the first time since moving to San Francisco.
Harrison Bader got it going with a solo homer in the third, the first of the year for the Giants, who scored just one total run in their first three games. After a two-run explosion in the second, Roupp seamlessly carried the baton to the rebuilt bullpen, which has been a pleasant surprise early on.
Ryan Walker wobbled in the ninth, but held on for a one-run victory. Here are three things to know from the first victory of the Vitello era …
More Like Landen R000000upp
Roupp’s 2025 MLB season ended in San Diego on Aug. 20 when he took a nasty spill in the third inning and got carted off. He ended up getting very good news, as the left knee sprain was minor enough that he was able to throw a bullpen session before the end of September.
In his first big league appearance since that night, Roupp was absolutely dominant. He allowed just two hits in six innings, walking two and striking out seven. Many of the swings weren’t close, either.
Manny Machado had the ugliest of the night, spinning all the way around on a curveball in the first inning. With a runner on in the sixth, Machado hit a weak grounder back to the mound that Roupp turned into an inning-ending double play. He stood on the mound for a second and pumped his fists.
New Look, New Results
The lineup for the fourth game of the year was fascinating, with Luis Arráez hitting cleanup and Willy Adames batting leadoff for just the second time since 2018. The only other time over that span came in game 162 last year when he hit atop the lineup to get extra cracks at breaking the 30-homer drought.
Vitello mostly just chalked it up to getting a fresh start after the sweep, and he said a couple of times that he could mix and match his top six hitters in any way. It ended up being the bottom three who led the way, though.
Bader’s blast got the lineup going and the Giants took a 3-0 lead an inning later when Bailey and Schmitt both came through with two outs. Coming into the game, the three had combined for just one hit all season.
Path To 27
The biggest question coming into the season was how the Giants would get through the late innings every night, but Vitello didn’t even have a chance to try it during the first series. The Giants never held a lead until Monday.
As expected, the plan was to play the matchups. Lefty Matt Gage was the first out of the pen because two lefties were due up in the seventh and had a clean inning even after the Padres pinch-hit for Gavin Sheets with righty Miguel Andujar.
Two years ago at this time, Keaton Winn looked like a longtime big league starter. On Monday he came out of the bullpen in the eighth and blew three Padres away. Winn struck out the side on 13 pitches and got five swinging strikes on his splitter alone.
Vitello has not named a closer, but Walker got the first crack at it. After walking the leadoff hitter on four pitches, he got through Fernando Tatis Jr. and Machado. Walker was a strike away from a clean save, but Jackson Merrill hit a slider into the seats in right.
The right-hander, coming off an inconsistent 2025, bounced back and got a groundout to end the night.
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