Baby Giants Flex Muscles in St. Louis

Sep 16, 2026 | 2026 Season, Latest Post

by
Greek Giant

With their 10-3 win over the Cardinals last night many things happened. First, The Giants were guaranteed not to lose 100 games this season. Second, the baby Giants, the youth movement which, thanks to all the injuries, is pretty much the entire team, produced an outstanding offensive game. Let me take that one step further: The Baby Giants put up a convincing and thoroughly impressive complete win against a Cardinals team that was fighting for a playoff spot.

Let’s begin with the top of the first inning, an inning that set the tone of the game. The Giants scored three runs when lead off hitter Drew Gilbert reached on an error after hustling down the line at first. In his first pitch of his at bat, Bryce Eldridge walloped a two-run homer that traveled 462 feet, deep into the Cardinals right field bleachers, far beyond the bullpen. It was a tape-measure shot and it was my favorite Eldridge homer this season. It was also Bryce’s 17th long ball of his impressive rookie year and it was hit off a first-pitch slurve right down the middle but knee-high. Eldridge was sitting on it. Later in the inning Jonah Cox reached on catdher’s interference and stole second. After two outs he was driven in by Turner Hill’s single to right. That two-out RBI, as Javy Lopez mentioned, was huuuuge and made the game 3-0 before the Cardinals came to bat. All of the damage was done against a top-flight Cardinal starter in Andre Pallante.

After the Cardinals answered with a solo homer by Rick Burleson, one of the best hitters in the game, to make it 3-1, the Giants mounted big offensive efforts with a four-run third inning and lone runs in the top of the fourth, eighth and ninth innings. There were more two-out run-scoring hits through the infield. Eldridge doubled in another run, Turner Hill hit his first Big League homer and would also make three fantastic running catches in left field. Christian Koss went 3-5 with three RBIs and is doing his best to make us forget about Willy Adames at shortstop. It was a very impressive night for the Baby Giant bats with 12 hits and five walks overall. The Cardinals did not play good defense and also hit a few very hard knocks that found Giant gloves. It was San Francisco’s night!

Giant starter earned the win to go to 1-2 with a 4.56 ERA on the year. He went 6 1/3 innings and recorded four strikeouts and one walk. Good on him. Dylan Smith finished off the game allowing one run in the ninth.

The Baby Giants Are an Athletic Bunch!

One thing I noted with the youth movement: This Giants team can. flat-out run. Between Basabe, Cox, Koss and Gilbert the Giants are looking like the 1982 Cardinals. Every ball in play is stressful for the defense. More bases are being stolen, singles to the outfield always score the runner from second. More and more balls in the outfield and infield are being caught. This may be an inexperienced group but they are very Athletic. It is a big difference from the Giants opening day roster and it is something to consider going forward. If these players like Hill, Cox, Gilbert, and so forth continue to develop it may be a smart play to trade Adames and Chapman, put Schmitt at third and see what happens. It’s what I would do in 2027 as I expect the Giants and Posey will look for some serious pitching upgrades too. The Giants appear to have a serious possibility of a talented, athletic outfield in the making.

The Highlights

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Tonight’s Game

Game two of the series against the Cardinals in St. Louis takes place tonight at 1:15 PM Eastern with Anthony Molina (3-1, 5.24 ERA) facing Matthew Liberatore (5-14, 5.53 ERA).