San Francisco Giants at St. Louis Cardinals

Bryce Eldridge knew immediately. The ball left his bat at 112.7 mph Tuesday night, traveled a Statcast-projected 461 feet into the right-center-field seats at Busch Stadium and gave the Giants a first-inning lead in an eventual 10-3 win over the Cardinals. “I knew immediately that was the best one I’ve caught this year,” Eldridge said. He was right. It was the longest home run of Eldridge’s young Major League career, the longest homer at Busch Stadium this season and the Giants’ longest away from Coors Field. It was also San Francisco’s hardest-hit homer of the year. • Wednesday's box score But when Eldridge was asked afterward about another play -- a far less dramatic one in the ninth inning -- he lit up just as much. The 6-foot-7 first baseman had leaped to snag a difficult grounder hit by Victor Scott II to end the game. For a player whose bat has always generated the attention, that play represented something else entirely. “Oh yeah,” Eldridge said when asked if it felt almost as good as the homer. “Making a good play on defense -- I have a lot of pride in it and in all the work that I put in.”