SAN FRANCISCO -- Cardinals left-hander Quinn Mathews hadn’t allowed an extra-base hit to a lefty in his first five Major League starts, but he saw that streak come to an end at the hands of yet another promising young rookie: Giants designated hitter Bryce Eldridge.
Eldridge hammered an opposite-field solo shot off Mathews in the bottom of the first inning to give the Giants an early lead they wouldn’t relinquish in a 2-1 win over the Cardinals on Tuesday night at Oracle Park.
Eldridge’s 16th home run of the year came on an elevated four-seam fastball from Mathews and traveled a Statcast-projected 389 feet out to left field, showcasing the 21-year-old slugger’s prodigious power to all fields.
Christian Koss also took Mathews deep in the second to help back a stellar start from right-hander Landen Roupp, who earned the win after yielding only two hits over six scoreless innings.
The Cardinals didn’t get on the board until the top of the ninth, when Nathan Church reached on a two-out single, advanced to second on defensive indifference, then scored on Bryan Torres’ RBI single to right field. Pinch-hitter Victor Scott II then stole second to put the tying run in scoring position, but right-hander Joel Kuhnel managed to coax a groundout from the bat of Iván Herrera to convert a four-out save for the Giants.
San Francisco has now won two straight against St. Louis and will have a chance to complete its first three-game sweep of the year behind rookie right-hander Blade Tidwell on Wednesday.