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.
