The San Francisco Giants haven’t lived up to their preseason expectations this year. A disappointing 2026 campaign has been defined more by what went wrong than what went right. Only 10 games remain. There wasn’t much left to play for beyond pride and avoiding an ugly piece of franchise history.
A 100-loss season would have marked just the second in franchise history. It was still mathematically on the table heading into Tuesday night in St. Louis. That possibility disappeared thanks in large part to one player.
Eldridge’s Big Night at the Plate
Bryce Eldridge set the tone early. He opened the scoring in the first inning with a two-run homer off Andre Pallante. The ball traveled 461 feet. It was the longest home run by a Giants player since 2021, outside of Coors Field and Mexico City games. He added a third RBI later with an eighth-inning double that drove in Brett Harris. That gave him a hand in nearly half the Giants’ run total in San Francisco’s 10-3 win.
Eldridge wasn’t done when the bats went quiet. He closed the game out defensively too. He made a leaping grab on a bouncing ground ball at first base and tagged the bag himself for the final out.
What’s Driven Eldridge’s Rookie Season
The power has been obvious all year. What’s stood out just as much is how Eldridge has carried himself through a rookie season that’s had its share of rough patches, both for him individually and for the team around him.
“I think the biggest thing for me this year and the growth I’ve had as a player has all been mental,” Eldridge said on Giants Postgame Live. “And obviously, during those stretches, it’s hard to be positive and stay the course through it. But I’ve had a really good support group, including yourself, Wotus. I know you’ve seen me going through those struggles in the dugout, and I’ve grown a lot as a person this year. And I think that I give credit to that for how I’ve developed as a player. Not really letting myself get too down on myself, and not getting too high on myself, and kind of staying level-headed.”
That mindset hasn’t stayed contained to his own game. Eldridge has become something of a steadying presence for the other young players around him, many of whom he came up with in the minor leagues. “I think the best advice that I could give to them was, it’s completely normal to go through some struggles when you get up here,” Eldridge said. “So, having that experience under my belt and being able to share that with these guys, and I played with a lot of these guys at Low-A, High-A, every single level. So, we know each other very well, and it’s easy for me to kind of speak up to them.”
Bryce Eldridge looks back on the mental journey he has taken during his rookie season
The Rest of the Giants’ Offense
Eldridge had help. Blade Tidwell turned in the longest outing of his big league career, allowing two earned runs across 6 2/3 innings with four strikeouts, a strong bounce-back a week after giving up five runs in four innings to this same Cardinals lineup. Turner Hill drove in three runs, including the first home run of his MLB career, part of a 10th-inning explosion that also saw Christian Koss, Osleivis Basabe and Grant McCray all add run-scoring hits.
For a team with little left to play for, it was a solid all-around performance. Eldridge was at the center of it.
Giants’ Bryce Eldridge Drops Powerful Quote Amid Cardinals Series