San Francisco Giants Jung Hoo Lee slugs a single in the second inning against the St Louis Cardinals at Oracle Park in San Francisco on Wed Sep 9, 2026 (AP News photo)

By Lincoln Juarez

SAN FRANCISCO – The Giants hoped to continue to play spoiler to the St. Louis Cardinals Wednesday afternoon in the final game of a three-game set. St. Louis dropped the first two games of the series plunging them to 6.0 games back of the Arizona Diamondbacks for the final Wild Card spot in the National League. For the Giants, a sweep of the Cardinals at home would’ve been their first since June 29-July 1, 2001.

A beautiful 80 degree afternoon at Oracle Park began with a 95mph called strike one to Cardinal leadoff hitter Bryan Torres who popped out to Shay Whitcomb at third for the first out of the day. The first of three quick outs to set the Cardinals down in order with the help of another great diving play by Bryce Eldridge at first base to end the inning.

Drew Gilbert leadoff the home first with a line drive up the middle and in the blink of an eye he was testing his luck for two bases. He dove in well ahead of Nathan Church’s throw for a leadoff double. Two batters later, Bryce Eldridge, who extended his on-base streak to 17 games Tuesday night, blooped a base-hit to left field to bring home Gilbert, extending his streak to 18 games. After reaching on a fielder’s choice, Jonah Cox was caught stealing to end the Giants rally in the first with a 1-0 lead.

It was the third time in as many games against the Redbirds the Giants scored in the first inning hoping for the same result from the first two games in which the Giants secured their first series win against St. Louis since sweeping a three-game set at Busch Stadium in 2023.

The one-run lead wouldn’t last as the Cardinals brought a run home on two hits in the top of the second. In the third, the Cardinals added more after an unfortunate sequence of events for Giants’ starter Blade Tidwell. In the process of having Ivan Herrera picked off between first and second base Tidwell was called for interference after running through the baseline, making contact with Herrera, allowing him to advance to second base.

Tidwell then walked Alec Burleson and gave up a 378ft homerun to Leo Bernal putting the St. Louis ahead 4-1. A situation that could’ve been two out with nobody on resulted in Tidwell being visibly frustrated on his way back to the dugout after the three-run inning.

He would only last another full inning, getting pulled in the fifth with the bases loaded from a single, hit-by-pitch, and walk with nobody out. Tidwell’s final line was 4.0 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 2 K. He was replaced by left-hander Philip Abner, making his Giants debut.

St. Louis was held to just one in the fifth thanks to Abner rolling a double-play on the first pitch he threw. They got one more in the sixth and had a 6-1 lead the rest of the way.

It was a game in which the Giants offense struggled to get anything going past the first inning thanks to Cardinals’ starter Andre Pallante giving up the lone run across 5.0 innings of work. San Francisco was shutout after the first inning until the bottom of the eighth, when Bryce Eldridge came through with his second RBI-hit of the afternoon. It knocked in two to make it a 6-3 Cardinal lead. Jonah Cox followed with a base-hit of his own driving in another run to get the Giants within two.

Edridge stood on second base with Cox at first and Jung Hoo Lee in the box with two out. Jung Hoo lined a double off the brick wall in right bringing home both Eldridge and Cox, who shared a long, celebratory hug after Cox scored. On the next pitch Shay Whitcomb, who had been great all day defensively, smacked one to centerfield also off the wall to trade places with Jung Hoo Lee. The Giants came all the way back and had a 7-6 lead.

As the Oracle Park crowd gave a standing ovation to the Giants offense at the end of the eighth inning, Trent Harris made the trek to the mound to close out a Giants comeback win. Jose Fermin leadoff the ninth with a single on the first pitch prompting the Cardinals to pinch-hit with the Homerun Derby champion, Jordan Walker. Walker rolled into 6-4-3 double-play and one pitch later Trent Harris got his first career big-league save and Matt “Tugboat” Wilkinson earned his first career win courtesy of the Giants’ eighth inning comeback.

St. Louis could not avoid the sweep heading into their nine-game homestand, their final of the season, where the final three games of the Giants, Cardinals season series will be played next Monday through Wednesday. The Cardinals look to make one last run at the final National League Wild Card spot with 15 games remaining.

The Giants swept a team in 2026 in three consecutive days for the first time, they won all three games in their road series against the Atlanta Braves but the final game of that series was over two months after the first two.

Tony Vitello and his squad of young prospects will welcome the San Diego Padres to town for a three-game series beginning Friday night at 7:15pm, hoping to spoil more playoff hopes. The Padres, another team trying to overcome the Diamondbacks for the final Wild Card spot.

Starters for Friday for San Diego LHP Robbie Ray (11-8 ERA 3.38) for San Francisco RHP Anthony Molina (3-0 ERA 2.79) first pitch 7:15pm PDT.