Right-hander Landen Roupp will try to build on a 20-inning scoreless streak for San Francisco’s pitching staff as the Giants open a nine-game road trip at Baltimore on Friday night.

San Francisco, which won just three times in its first 11 games under first-year manager Tony Vitello, bounced back to post back-to-back shutout wins over the Philadelphia Phillies before departing on the 11-day eastern trip, which also includes three-game stops at Cincinnati and Washington.

Roupp (1-1, 4.22 ERA), who has never faced the Orioles in his career, was brilliant in his season debut on March 30 at San Diego, allowing just two hits and striking out seven over six shutout innings in a 3-2 victory over the Padres. However, he followed that up by allowing seven runs (five earned) on seven hits in 4 2/3 innings in a 9-0 loss to the visiting New York Mets on Saturday.

Roupp didn’t get much help from his defense, which committed three errors in that loss. He struck out seven, including the first four batters he faced on 22 pitches.

“I definitely think Landen threw better than what the box score says,” Vitello said afterward. “On defense, we can certainly do better.”

The Giants take a two-game winning streak into the contest after a 5-0 win over the Phillies on Wednesday. Right-hander Tyler Mahle allowed three hits over 5 2/3 innings while Rafael Devers, batting just .196 entering the contest, went 2-for-4 with four RBIs, including a 411-foot, three-run homer to center that broke a 0-0 tie in the sixth inning.

“It’d be awesome to be in a better situation, but I think we found some things out about ourselves that can be valuable in the long run,” Vitello said of his team’s disappointing 5-8 start. “We’re playing pretty decent ball right now.”

Baltimore will start right-hander Shane Baz (0-0, 4.09 ERA), who will be making his first career appearance against the Giants.

The Orioles return home for a six-game homestand following a topsy-turvy 3-3 road trip that began with getting swept in three contests at Pittsburgh. Baltimore then bounced back to sweep a three-game series with the White Sox in Chicago to get back to .500 (6-6) for the season.

“It’s a long season. It’s a marathon,” Orioles manager Craig Albernaz said. “There’s going to be ups and downs. No need to panic after a tough series in Pittsburgh. Our guys are keeping their heads down with a one-day approach and every single day show up at the field and continue to get better and compete.”

One big bright spot so far for Baltimore has been the play of outfielder Taylor Ward.

Ward, obtained in an offseason trade with the Los Angeles Angels for pitcher Grayson Rodriguez, went 4-for-5 with three doubles and two RBIs in Wednesday’s 5-3 victory. He leads the league in doubles with nine and is second with a .383 batting average.

Ward, who never had a four-hit game in eight seasons with the Angels, has had two in his last eight games.

“I guess it’s something in the water,” Ward joked. “It feels good. I’m seeing it well. I think the biggest thing is just trusting my work in the cage and really working on my (bat) path, and make sure I’m behind the ball as long as possible.”

“Just great at-bats,” Albernaz said of Ward’s hot start. “He grinds out at-bats. He makes pitchers work, forces them into the strike zone. Lays off pitches out of the strike zone, and he gets his swing off. It’s been fun to watch.”

–Field Level Media

The Milwaukee Brewers will look to bounce back from a pair of road losses behind right-hander Chad Patrick when they return home to face the Washington Nationals on Friday in the opener of a three-game series.

Patrick (1-0, 0.96 ERA) will be opposed by right-hander Jake Irvin (1-1, 8.00) as the Brewers face a National League opponent for the first time after opening with 12 games against American League teams.

The Brewers, who were idle Thursday, dropped the final two games in Boston, including a 5-0 defeat on Wednesday to lose their first series of the season. Milwaukee managed just four hits off veteran Sonny Gray and three relievers.

Washington, which also was off Thursday, lost at St. Louis 6-1 on Wednesday for its seventh loss in eight games.

Patrick has been effective in each of his first two starts, allowing one run on five hits in 4 1/3 innings his first time out as Milwaukee beat the visiting Chicago White Sox 6-1 on March 28. That was followed by four hits over five scoreless innings in his last start, a 5-2 win on Saturday at Kansas City.

“Five innings … he’ll be the first to admit he did not have his best location, he didn’t have his best stuff, but he battled,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said following Patrick’s last start. “It’s more of a positive than anybody could know when you don’t have your best stuff and get through it.”

Patrick has struck out seven and walked four in 9 1/3 innings, allowing one home run.

Brewers veteran Christian Yelich is off to a hot start, hitting a team-leading .372 with two doubles, one triple, one homer and 10 RBIs. Speedy outfielder Garrett Mitchell, who missed almost all of last season with a left oblique strain, is hitting .310 with a team-high 13 RBI.

The Brewers also lead the majors with 23 stolen bases in 27 attempts.

Brewers second baseman Brice Turang missed the final two games of the Red Sox series with left ankle tendinitis.

“We’re just trying to get me off my feet for a couple days,” Turang said on Wednesday. “This rolls into an off day, so it will be three days and then I’ll be ready to roll on Friday. Just trying to get it knocked out, get it out of the foot.”

After a solid first start in defeating the host Chicago Cubs on March 29, Irvin struggled his last time out, allowing six runs on eight hits in four innings in a 10-5 home loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Saturday.

“Overall, these guys were jumping on him pretty early in counts,” Nationals manager Blake Butera said following Irvin’s last start. “He never seemed to be comfortable out there.”

Irvin has had little success against the Brewers, going 0-5 with a 6.59 ERA in six career starts against them, allowing five homers and 15 walks in 28 2/3 innings.

The Nationals have the worst team ERA in the majors at 6.06 over 12 games. On the offensive side, the Nationals are tied for third with 16 homers and fourth in team batting average at .266 as of Thursday afternoon.

Shortstop CJ Abrams is hitting .286 and leads Washington with four homers and 14 RBI. James Wood also has four homers with 10 RBI, but the outfielder is hitting just .216 with 18 strikeouts in 51 at-bats.

–Field Level Media

Wisconsin scored twice in a 27-second span in the first period, and Daniel Hauser made 21 saves en route to a 2-1 win over North Dakota in Thursday’s first Frozen Four semifinal in Las Vegas.

Simon Tassy and Ryan Botterill netted the quick-fire goals for the Badgers (24-12-2), who shrugged off North Dakota’s last-minute tally to move within one win of their seventh national championship and first since 2006.

Michigan faced Denver in the other semifinal later Thursday.

Hauser outdueled North Dakota’s Jan Spunar (35 saves) in a battle of freshman goalies, making 12 stops in the second period. Spunar and the Fighting Hawks (29-10-1) shut out both Merrimack and Quinnipiac in the Sioux Falls, S.D., regional to reach the Frozen Four for the first time since 2016.

For North Dakota, Ellis Rickwood broke Hauser’s shutout bid with 51.8 seconds left in regulation.

Wisconsin finished with a dominant 37-22 advantage in shots and went 5-for-5 on the penalty kill.

Hauser set the tone for a Wisconsin-dominated first period 4:24 in, stopping North Dakota’s first shot on goal of the game when Tyler Young slipped a pass from behind the net to set up a point-blank chance for Cody Croal.

Denting the scoreboard first at 12:54, Tassy stepped into a wrist shot as he slid down into the right circle and received Vasily Zelenov’s feed out of a battle in the corner.

Botterill doubled the Badger lead at 13:21. Defenseman Ben Dexheimer — whose overtime game-winner was the difference against Michigan State in the Worcester, Mass., regional — made a diagonal feed out of his own end to Botterill, who broke in at the blue line and beat two defenders for a shot that trickled five-hole on Spunar.

After being outshot 18-4 in the opening stanza, North Dakota pressured out of the first intermission, and Hauser made a key stop on Will Zellers’ partial breakaway early in the second.

Wisconsin also killed off a two-man disadvantage for 1:57 before the halfway mark of the second period before the Badgers’ Oliver Tulk made up for a defensive-zone turnover with a perfect diving backcheck to disrupt Ollie Josephson’s potential try in the final minute.

One of North Dakota’s best chances in the third came with 8:30 left and while short-handed, as Cole Reschny cut through two defenders and clanked a backhand shot off the crossbar.

With Spunar pulled for an extra attacker, Dylan James’ wraparound attempt found the stick of Rickwood in front for a point-blank wrist shot goal atop the crease, but the Fighting Hawks got no closer than 2-1.

–Field Level Media