SF Giants starter returning to scene of freak injury for first start of 2026 vs. Padres

The SF Giants are set to take on the San Diego Padres tonight, and it will have to be a bit of an odd outing for starting pitcher Landen Roupp. The last time Roupp pitched in a big league game, it was last August in San Diego and he exited the field on a cart after a freak injury.

Roupp was trying to come back from an elbow injury and was making his second start after a month-long stint on the IL in San Diego. He was having a really rough outing, and things got even worse in the bottom of the third inning as a line drive was hit back up the middle and caught Roupp in the hip. This caused him to twist awkwardly off the mound and injure his knee.

Landen Roupp returning to San Diego, where he injured his knee last season

Roupp had to be carted off the field and many feared that he had torn something in his knee and could be out for an extended period of time.

Fortunately, it turned out to only be a sprain and there were even some rumblings that he was trying to return to pitch late in the season as the team made a valiant playoff push. His injury left the rotation in pretty rough shape coming down the stretch as the team really only had three viable starters.

That ended up being his last start of what was a really solid 2025 campaign overall for Roupp. His last two starts after coming back from the elbow issue were rough as he gave up 10 earned runs in 5 and 1/3 innings pitched combined, but the rest of the year he was phenomenal.

Prior to those two starts, Roupp had a 3.11 ERA in 20 starts. Now fully healthy, he will look to pick up where he left off before injuries derailed his breakout season.

The North Carolina native came into spring training knowing nothing was guaranteed. While all offseason it had been assumed that he would be part of the five-man rotation, he knew he'd at least have to pitch reasonably well and prove that he was fully healthy.

He did just that, posting a respectable 4.15 ERA in 13 innings of Cactus League work. There were some concerns about walks as he issued seven free passes, but he struck out 15 batters so his stuff seems to be sharp.

Most importantly though, he is healthy. When he went down on that mound in San Diego last August there were fears that he may miss most of 2026, so he has to be happy that he's back on that same mound again seven months later at the start of the new season.