LOS ANGELES — A week ago exactly, the Giants scored four runs in the first against Clayton Kershaw in what ended up being his final start at Oracle Park. On Tuesday in Phoenix, the Giants scored four runs in the first. On Saturday in Los Angeles, the Giants scored four runs in the first — three being the product of Bryce Eldridge’s first career hit.
For the third time in the last eight days, the Giants (76-79) began a ballgame with a crooked number. For the third time in the last eight days, the Giants watched an early lead slip away and ended a day in defeat, the latest being a 7-5 loss as the Dodgers hit four homers.
Despite the defeat, Eldridge will always have the memory of collecting his first hit at Dodger Stadium as part of the historic rivalry.
“It feels that much more important being here,” said Eldridge, who also drew a walk, of getting his first hit against the Dodgers. “This is one of the places I grew up dreaming of playing in.”
The moment was all the more special for Eldridge given that his mother, Beth, and her twin sister, Alison, were celebrating their birthdays. Eldridge told his mom that he wanted to do something special for her birthday, that something special being a three-run double that stunned Chavez Ravine.
Along with Eldridge’s first hit, Beth received another birthday gift: a Matt Chapman foul ball in the fifth inning.
“She said someone was trying to wrestle her for it and she kind of whacked her hand out of the way,” Eldridge said. “She’s feisty. She gets what she wants.”
Eldridge, 20, hadn’t been rewarded for the hard contact he made in his first three games in the majors. In his third career plate appearance, he smashed a 409-foot, 105.9-mph line drive that got caught. During the first game of this series, his 102.4 mph line drive found a glove. In his 11th plate appearance, Eldridge finally earned a batting average.
The Giants loaded the bases in the top of the first against Tyler Glasnow on a pair of singles from Heliot Ramos and Willy Adames, as well as a walk drawn by Matt Chapman. That brought Eldridge to the plate with an opportunity to make his first mark on the rivalry.
Glasnow challenged Eldridge with a 96.5 mph sinker; Eldridge let the heater travel and sent it off the base of the left-field wall. Ramos scored easily, as did Adames. Chapman, with the help of a bobble and bad throw by left fielder Michael Conforto, scored from first. Eldridge, himself, scored several batters later when Drew Gilbert drew a bases-loaded walk.
With the double, Eldridge (20 years, 335 days) became the youngest Giants player with multiple RBIs in a game since Jack Clark (20 years, 307 days) on Sept. 12, 1976.
“I’ve been hitting the ball hard, I’ve ben doing the right things. I think I wanted it to be like that: had to really earn it,” Eldridge said. “I wouldn’t want it any other way than in a big spot like that and here off a guy who’s got a lot of success in the league — and on my mom and my aunt’s birthday.”
Following that four-run first inning, the Dodgers proceeded to score the next seven runs en route to handing the Giants their seventh loss in their last eight games. With seven games remaining, San Francisco is four games back of the New York Mets for the third and final NL wild card spot.
Max Muncy hit a two-run homer off Kai-Wei Teng in the first, then Los Angeles tied the game in the fourth on a solo homer by Michael Conforto and an RBI single by Freddie Freeman. Tommy Edman’s fifth-inning solo blast gave the Dodgers the lead; Shohei Ohtani’s solo blast and Teoscar Hernández’s RBI single in the sixth provided insurance.
As far as the offense, the Giants had Glasnow on the ropes after making him throw 43 pitches in the first, but they couldn’t manufacture any offense against Glasnow over the next four innings. Instead of getting to Los Angeles’ bullpen early, Glasnow rebounded to toss five innings before handing the baton to his relievers.
Following Glasnow’s departure, Rafael Devers’ solo homer in the seventh, his 32nd home run of the season, was the extent of San Francisco’s offense. It was a much-needed swing for Devers, who entered the game batting .169 in September.
“We were on him early,” said manager Bob Melvin. “He’s a pretty good pitcher. Then he got into a rhythm and ended up going five innings, which you wouldn’t have expected after the first.”
For Teng, this marked his latest start that was equal parts promising and uneven. The good: he struck out six batters over three innings. The bad: he walked two batters. The ugly: he plunked three batters. Over 29 2/3 innings this season, Teng has totaled 39 strikeouts but 25 combined walks and hit-by-pitches.
Teng’s first inning perfectly encapsulated his duality. The 26-year-old rookie right-hander began his night by striking out Ohtani and Mookie Betts swinging. Teng then got into an 0-2 count against Freddie Freeman but plunked him in the foot with a breaking ball. Muncy, the next batter, clubbed a two-run shot.
“It’s just kind of been the way his season has gone,” said manager Bob Melvin. “He strikes out Ohtani and Betts then loses his command a little bit. He’s a young pitcher that, at times, maybe doesn’t have his stuff consistently throughout the game.”
Originally Published: September 20, 2025 at 9:10 PM PDT