SAN FRANCISCO -- Tony Vitello hasn’t been getting out much since he took over as the Giants’ new manager.
“I've been in hiding,” Vitello said. “I'm holding out for some more wins.”
The Giants haven’t gotten off to the best start this year, but picking up a W against the rival Dodgers certainly figures to boost Vitello’s reputation around town.
Behind a gutsy performance from right-hander Landen Roupp, the Giants (10-13) beat the two-time defending World Series champions, 3-1, in Tuesday night’s series opener at Oracle Park.
San Francisco took advantage of defensive miscues to nick Los Angeles ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto for three runs in the first inning, providing some early breathing room for Roupp, who allowed one run on one hit over five innings to lower his ERA to 2.28 over five starts this year.
Roupp struck out seven, but he lost his feel for the zone in the fourth inning and ended up issuing a season-high five walks. Four of those free passes came in his 32-pitch fourth inning, including a bases-loaded walk to Hyeseong Kim that forced in the Dodgers’ lone run of the game.
Still, Roupp managed to limit the damage by inducing a 5-4-3 double play from Alex Call to end the inning. Roupp’s pitch count stood at 86 at the end of the fourth, but Vitello decided to send him back out for the fifth. The 27-year-old responded by striking out two in a 1-2-3 inning and departed after throwing a career-high 106 pitches.
The Giants had a chance to expand their lead in the sixth after Jung Hoo Lee reached on a two-out single and tried to score from first on Heliot Ramos’ subsequent base hit up the middle. Lee got a great jump and was waved home by third-base coach Hector Borg, but he was thrown out at the plate and looked shaken up after he was tagged out by catcher Dalton Rushing.
Lee later exited the game and was replaced in right field by Jerar Encarnacion in the top of the eighth.
Vitello leaned on his three lefty relievers -- Ryan Borucki, Matt Gage and Erik Miller -- to get through the middle part of the game before bringing in righties Keaton Winn and Ryan Walker to record the final four outs.