San Francisco Giants Maui Ahuna (17) sends the ball flying agianst the Sacramento River Cats at Sutter Health Park in West Sacarmento in Spring Training exhibition game on Sun Mar 22, 2026 (San Francisco Giants X photo)

By Stephen Ruderman

WEST SACRAMENTO–Bryce Eldridge may not have made the Giants’ opening day roster, but he gave the Giants and their fans a taste of what is to come when he finally gets back to the big leagues, as he went 2-for-3 with a home run in the River Cats’ 2-1 win over the Giants in what was the fifth exhibition game played between the Giants and River Cats here at Sutter Health Park.

The Giants first played the River Cats in 2016, and beat them 8-4. The River Cats won the next two matchups in 2018 and 2024, and the Giants evened things up with a win last season.

The two teams have alternated between being the home and road teams in past matchup, and tonight, the River Cats were the home team in their park. Though, the River Cats sat in the visiting first base dugout.

This was a game that honestly felt like a River Cats’ intrasquad game, as many of the hitters in the Giants’ starting lineup tonight will likely be suiting up for the River Cats this season. As a result, the game was evenly matched.

Tyler Mahle made the Giants for the Giants, and took a no-hitter into the bottom of the fourth inning. That was when Bryce Eldridge put the River Cats on the board with a towering home run to right-center field. Mahle ended up going five innings in his final exhibition tuneup, allowing just one run and one hit.

You could even say the River Cats had the advantage, as the Giants’ squad tonight consisted of guys in double and single-a. However, the major leaguers took the ball on the pitching side. In addition to Mahle, we saw other major leaguers, such as JT Brubaker and Keaton Winn, pitch scoreless innings in the sixth and seventh.

The Giants manufactured a run to tie the game in the top of the eighth. Nate Furman, also recently cut by the Giants, put the River Cats back ahead with a home run to right in the bottom of the eighth.

The Giants—or to be honest, the orange and black side of the River Cats’ squad tonight with all of the single and double-a guys in—were unable to come through in the top of the ninth, and the River Cats won 2-1.

That means the River Cats now lead the overall series 3-2.

Now that the two teams have played each other three years in a row now, perhaps this will continue next year. Though, with the fact that the Giants could have a later start to next season thanks to the likely-impending lockout, perhaps we will not see this again until 2028.

As for the Giants, they are going to wrap up their exhibition slate in a quite-exciting way, as the Sultanes de Monterrey of the Mexican League will come to Oracle Park for a pair of exhibition games, tomorrow and Tuesday. Both games will start at 6:45 p.m.