WASHINGTON — The Giants’ starting rotation has undergone something of a youth movement this week, with Hayden Birdsong and Kyle Harrison suddenly entering the fold after briefly serving as understudies in the bullpen.
Roupp gave up only five hits while walking two and striking out two in his efficient 76-pitch outing, which lowered his ERA to 3.63 over 10 starts this year. The 26-year-old right-hander — who beat out Birdsong and Harrison for the fifth starting spot in Spring Training — opened his season with a 5.10 ERA over his first six outings, but he’s hit his stride in May, recording a 1.64 ERA (four earned runs over 22 innings) across four starts this month.
Roupp outdueled Nationals left-hander MacKenzie Gore, who held the Giants scoreless through his first six innings before he was forced to depart with an apparent injury in the seventh. Gore issued a leadoff walk to Jung Hoo Lee and then drew a mound visit from Washington manager Dave Martinez and a team trainer after falling behind, 2-0, against Matt Chapman.
Gore ended up coming out of the game after throwing 91 pitches and gave way to reliever Jackson Rutledge, who walked Chapman before inducing a double play from Wilmer Flores. Still, Willy Adames followed with a two-out single up the middle to break the deadlock and give the Giants a 1-0 lead. Casey Schmitt, Mike Yastrzemski and Patrick Bailey then drew three consecutive free passes from Rutledge to force in another run and hand a two-run lead over to Roupp.
Roupp returned to the mound in the bottom of the seventh, but he was removed after surrendering a leadoff double to Luis García Jr. and walking Josh Bell. Still, Randy Rodríguez came in and managed to strand both runners by striking out Robert Hassell III swinging on a 98 mph fastball before inducing an inning-ending double play from José Tena.
