After losing to the Cardinals, the SF Giants need to win their final two games to reach .500

SAN FRANCISCO – Jerar Encarnacion hit a home run and the Giants took an early lead, but rookie starter Landen Roupp had an uncharacteristic blowout and left San Francisco falling too far behind.

While playing from behind, the Giants missed a few chances, but were unable to create any more chances in the late innings and lost 6-3. To finish the season at .500, the Giants (79-81) must win each of their final two games at Oracle Park.

“Definitely not the way I wanted to end it,” Roupp said after his final start of 2024. “But I think overall it was a pretty good season, just getting my feet wet. I definitely need to make some improvements and I’m looking forward to doing that this offseason.”

The Giants are mathematically eliminated from the postseason and have been playing their best ball of late. In September, San Francisco snapped its longest winning streak of the season, posting a historically productive 9-2 road trip. Matt Chapman, the 2024 Willie Mac Award winner, is on the verge of the franchise's first 30-homer season since Barry Bonds, and young players like Tyler Fitzgerald, Heliot Ramos and Ryan Walker are contributing regularly.

But the momentum didn't last until Friday evening.

Roupp, the rookie righty who impressed in the second half, yielded a run in the first inning with two singles and a walk. Roupp entered the night with a scoreless streak of 10 innings and two starts of five innings each.

San Francisco responded in the second period with a huge shot from Encarnacion. The right fielder smoked a 1-2 hanging curveball from St. Louis starter Miles Mikolas over the Giants' bullpen in center field. His fifth home run had an exit velocity of 108.8 mph and traveled 430 feet.

San Francisco added another run after Encarnacion's shot when Mike Yastrzemski brought Brett Wisely home with a double off the right field bricks.

But with a 3-1 lead, Roupp imploded.

The rookie gave up a solo home run to center to Lars Nootbaar in the third inning and then didn't get out in the fourth inning. A costly block led to a game-winning double by Masyn Winn off the wall in left field. Winn then scored on a single past Brett Wisely to give St. Louis a 4-3 lead.

Pitching coach Bryan Price paid Roupp a visit with two outs in the fourth. One pitch later, Nolan Arenado blasted a ground-rule double into the left field corner, ending Roupp's night. He said after the game that he planned to work on a cutter and four-seam fastball in the offseason to protect against hitters who sit on the curveball, which he threw 41% of the time.