San Francisco Giants Matt Chapman (left) slides in safely past Philadelphia Phillies catcher JT Realmuto (right) in the last of the eighth inning at Oracle Park in San Francisco Mon Jul 7, 2025 (AP News photo)
By Lincoln Juarez
SAN FRANCISCO – Landon Roupp and the Giants bullpen held a juiced Phillies offense to just one run in a 3-1 win Monday night at Oracle Park and the Giants rallied for two runs in the eighth to start the homestand strong.
After a .500 (5-5) roadtrip the Giants looked to ride a two-game win streak into Oracle Park Monday night against the Philadelphia Phillies.
Sunday night the Giants beat the Athletics in Sacramento by a score of 6-2, winning four of their last five games.
Phillies starter Cristopher Sanchez (7-2) and his career 1.53 ERA against the Giants aimed to put out the fire that’s been Willy Adames’ bat and a resurging Giants offense. Career versus Sanchez going into Monday, Adames had hit .143 in seven at-bats but the team had scored six or more runs in each of their last four wins and hoped to keep the bats hot.
After a quick two outs to start the ballgame, Bryce Harper stepped up and sent a hard ground ball past the diving second baseman Casey Schmitt for the game’s first hit. Schmitt, in his first game since being reinstated from the 10-day IL, got the start at second base as IF Tyler Fitzgerald was once again optioned to Triple-A Sacramento.
Fitzgerald had a short stint back with the big league club due to Casey Schmitt’s injury and didn’t have the time he needed to find his swing and regain confidence with Sacramento.
The Giants offense got right to work in the home second with back-to-back singles by Chapman and Flores, followed by a walk to Schmitt to set up a bases loaded, no-outs opportunity. All the Giants could get was a single run on a fielder’s choice. Seven, eight, and nine in the order couldn’t come through as the offense continued to struggle with runners in scoring position.
Defensively the Phillies were exposed in the bottom of the third inning. Rafael Devers reached on a miscommunication between the right fielder Castellanos and center fielder Marsh. The next batter Matt Chapman lined one into deep center field that put Marsh in a blender. Spinning a full 360, Marsh couldn’t track it down but the Phillies caught a fortunate break as it bounced over the wall for a ground-rule double, preventing Devers from scoring on the play.
The Phillies escaped the inning without allowing a run.
It wasn’t until the fifth inning before Philadelphia could scratch across a run against Giants starter Landen Roupp. He had only allowed two hits to that point until Bryson Stott doubled and eventually reached third on a ground out to the right side by Brandon Marsh. In the next at-bat, Trea Turner took a wild pitch that allowed Stott to score and tie the game 1-1.
Roupp would finish the inning and it would turn out to be his last. His final line, 5 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K. Bob Melvin described his outing as having “early in the season energy”. The right-hander did indeed look fresh on the mound and has only gotten better each of his last few starts.
Ryan Walker took over in the sixth and Joey Lucchesi in the seventh. Both exchanged scoreless innings with Cristopher Sanchez, who outlasted Roupp and pitched seven or more innings for the sixth time this season. His night would end after seven strong, 7 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 K.
Tyler Rogers entered the game in the eighth coming off of a six-pitch scoreless inning on Sunday. He retired the Phillies offense in just four batters, keeping the game tied at one.
The San Francisco offense put together some late-night magic in the bottom of the eighth. Twenty-four year old Orion Kerkering couldn’t keep runners off the bases. Adames led off with a hit-by-pitch, Chapman singled to right putting runners at the corners with nobody out. Wilmer Flores then got hit by a pitch, loading the bases for Schmitt in his first game off the 10-day IL. He came through, putting the ball in play and bringing home Adames on a fielder’s choice for a 2-1 Giants lead. Jung Hoo Lee then hit into another fielder’s choice bringing home Chapman and the Giants were ahead by two.
Camilo Doval entered the ninth inning in a save situation and walked Max Kepler on four pitches to start the inning. The next batter, Realmuto, saw 13 pitches from Doval before lining out to a leaping Casey Schmitt. Bryson Stott was the last Phillie to step in the box as he grounded one to first base where Wilmer Flores stepped on the bag and threw to Adames covering second for the tag-out to complete the double play and end the game.
Winners of five of their last six games and now sitting just six games back of the Dodgers in the NL West, the Giants look to take advantage of left-hander Robbie Ray (9-3) on the mound in game two of the series tomorrow night against the Phillies Taijuan Walker (3-5).
First pitch at 6:45pm.
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