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. The shot extended Eldridge’s on-base streak to 17 games, which is tied for the second-longest active streak in the Majors, trailing only the Pirates’ Bryan Reynolds (18).
Eldridge’s production against lefties has been impressive all year, as he’s now batting .301 with an .895 OPS and six homers over 113 at-bats against them in 2026.
“We’ve seen really tough lefties,” manager Tony Vitello said. “I think he’s kind of adjusted on how he approaches those at-bats compared to the others. Nothing that he’s verbalized to me, but you can just see on video the willingness and really the consistent effort to stay to the ball and stay closed. That’s step one for left-on-left. You’re just not used to it as much.
“A lot of these guys, with their release point, it’s like their hand is behind you, so your tendency is to open up. But he’s tucked in there pretty good, and it’s allowed him to see the ball. Today he drove one, but also he’s drawn some walks or just battled guys because of that approach he has.”
Christian Koss also took Mathews deep in the second to collect his third home run in the last four games and help back a stellar start from right-hander Landen Roupp, who earned the win after yielding only two hits over six scoreless innings.
Roupp issued four walks, but he managed to work around traffic by inducing a pair of timely double plays and needed only 81 pitches to complete six innings for the first time since July 22.
The 27-year-old right-hander has thrown 150 2/3 innings this year, blowing past his previous career high of 106 2/3, but he said he’s feeling good physically and would like to continue to deliver quality starts over the final stretch of the season.
“If you’ve watched my starts, the fourth inning has kind of gotten me over and over again,” Roupp said. “I was able to get through that one tonight, which was probably one of my better innings of the year. I think it was seven pitches. Really, just getting through the innings and giving the guys a chance to win. But I’d love to finish the year healthy. That’s my biggest thing.”
Things got a bit dicey in the eighth after the Cardinals loaded the bases with two outs against right-hander Carson Seymour, but newcomer Joel Kuhnel bailed him out by getting Joshua Báez to fly out to end the inning.
“Seymour and Joel have really good stuff,” Vitello said. “Seymour obviously wishes he could have attacked the zone a little bit better, but you’ve just got to rely on your teammates there to pick you up, and that’s absolutely what Joel did.”
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 Kuhnel managed to coax a groundout from the bat of Iván Herrera to convert a four-out save for the Giants.
Kuhnel, who was claimed off waivers from the Brewers last week, became the 11th different Giants pitcher to record a save this season, tying a franchise record that was first set in 1964.
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.