SAN DIEGO -- The Giants checked off several key firsts in Monday night’s series opener against the Padres at Petco Park.
They got their first home run of the season. They got their first quality start. And most importantly, they got their first win.
Harrison Bader opened the scoring with a third-inning solo home run, and right-hander Landen Roupp struck out seven over six scoreless innings to spark a 3-2 victory for the Giants, who snapped their three-game skid and notched their first win under new manager Tony Vitello.
San Francisco turned a three-run lead over to Ryan Walker in the bottom of the ninth, though the veteran right-hander issued a four-pitch leadoff walk to Jake Cronenworth and then surrendered a two-out, two-run homer to Jackson Merrill that brought the Padres within one.
Still, Walker managed to coax a groundout from Xander Bogaerts to end the game and pick up his first save of the season.
With the win, the Giants (1-3) avoided losing their first four games to start the season for the first time since moving to San Francisco in 1958. The only sting Vitello felt after the game came from the beer shower he received from his players, who threw him into a laundry cart and doused him with beverages to celebrate his first career win in the big leagues.
"There were adult beverages,” said Vitello, who walked out barefoot to his postgame media session with damp hair under his Giants cap. “But there was other stuff mixed in, too. At some point, I’ll be plotting my revenge.”
Willy Adames presented Vitello with a bottle of champagne after the game, though other veterans such as Matt Chapman and Jerar Encarnacion also spoke up and offered their own congratulations to their new skipper.
"It's hard to comprehend because I’ve got the same disease as every other coach,” Vitello said. “You want the proper guys to get their props that got it done tonight but also look ahead to the next game. It’s an opportunity to win a series down here and continue things in the right direction. It’ll probably soak in getting back to the hotel, but yeah, it’s pretty special.
"Some of these guys have been slower to come out of their shell with me, but it's little moments like that, or breaking camp or Opening Day, where the bond grows a little bit.”
The Giants scored only one run while being swept by the Yankees at home last week and entered Monday as the only team in the Majors without a home run in 2026, but Bader finally got them on the board in the third.
Bader pumped his fist after crushing a hanging curveball from Padres starter Walker Buehler out to left field for his first home run for San Francisco, which signed the Gold Glove-winning center fielder to a two-year, $20.5 million deal over the offseason. Bader’s shot traveled a Statcast-projected 408 feet and gave the Giants their first lead of the year.
"It was nice for us to score first and score early today,” Chapman said. “I think Bader’s homer kind of set the tone for us a little bit.”
San Francisco added on behind back-to-back RBI singles from Patrick Bailey and Casey Schmitt in the fourth, and Roupp took care of the rest. The 27-year-old right-hander allowed only two hits and two walks in his first start of the year, which happened to come at the same place where he suffered his season-ending left knee injury in 2025.
Roupp was carted off the field after spraining his left knee here last August, but he managed to strut off the mound after inducing a 1-4-3 double play from Padres star Manny Machado to cap his 88-pitch gem on Monday.
"Obviously, what happened last year was kind of unfortunate, but I came in today and just wanted to compete,” Roupp said. “I just felt in control of the whole game, even with runners on the base. I just had everything working for me.”
Matt Gage and Keaton Winn came in after Roupp and delivered a scoreless inning apiece, with Winn striking out the side in a dominant eighth inning.
Things got a little dicey in the ninth, but the Giants were finally able to exhale upon recording the 27th out, allowing them to put Vitello through a familiar rite of passage after the game.
"It was awesome,” Chapman said. “I know every day that he didn’t win, it builds up a little bit. You want to get that first one for him. But it’s just exciting. Obviously, it’s a unique situation, his first time ever being a part of a Major League win in any fashion. We put him in a cart and gave him a beer shower and had fun with it. Now we go.”