LOS ANGELES — In at least one way, the Giants got what they needed this weekend. The New York Mets dropped two of three to the lowly Washington Nationals at home, continuing their late-season slide.
It wasn’t the Giants, though, who went charging through that door.
The Cincinnati Reds are now in the driver’s seat for the final NL postseason spot, and the Giants will head home knowing they could be eliminated in the next 48 hours. They at least made sure the flight was a happy one.
Trevor McDonald impressed in his second outing of the year and the Giants rallied late, winning 3-1 to avoid a four-game sweep at Dodger Stadium. They finished with a 2-5 road trip and will head home at 77-79 on the season.
The game was scoreless and zooming along at an incredible pace until the seventh, when the Dodgers scored and put two in scoring position with one out. Tommy Edman hit a line drive to first but it was snagged by the 6-foot-7 Bryce Eldridge, who was making his first big league start on the dirt. Eldridge isn’t just tall, he also used to be a pitcher, and he made a quick throw to third for an inning-ending double play.
Bryce Eldridge already making it look easy at first base 😲 pic.twitter.com/Nald0qhFOM
— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) September 21, 2025
The momentum carried over, as the Giants put three runs on Blake Treinen in the top of the eighth. Treinen got booed off the field after a stretch that included a go-ahead walk of Willy Adames with the bases loaded.
Quite The Audition
In his third career big league appearance, McDonald certainly did enough to earn a start next weekend against the Colorado Rockies.
McDonald had a shutout going until the seventh. With a struggling bullpen, manager Bob Melvin tried to stretch the right-hander out and it hurt his final line, but he certainly showed something.
McDonald started his day by striking out Shohei Ohtani and he finished with three of them, along with nine groundouts, which is the norm for him. He scattered six hits and walked just one. McDonald was a two-pitch guy (sinker, curveball) in the minors and it was that way Sunday, too, but it worked. He threw his curve 40 times and got seven whiffs.
Trevor McDonald strikes out Shohei Ohtani in his first big-league start 🔥 pic.twitter.com/LiRwSU0Z0G
— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) September 21, 2025
That Was Quick
Adames and Christian Koss teamed up for one of the best double plays of the year for the Giants …
Both were a big part of the game-winning rally, too. Koss ignited it with an infield single and added a hustle double in his final at-bat.
Revenge Season
In the future, Old Friends will have a hard time topping what Michael Conforto did to the Giants this year. Conforto is hitting just .204 overall and continues to lose playing but he would be well below .200 without the four series against his former teammates.
It was scoreless until the seventh, when Conforto followed a walk and single with a single to left. That gave him 10 RBI against the Giants this year; 28 percent of his RBI for the season have come in rivalry games. Conforto is 14-for-37 overall against the Giants with three homers, which matches the number he hit all of last season at Oracle Park.
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