Pence, wife have epic walk-off in MLB The Show

Switch out sunflower seeds for sugar packets, add in the virtual Soto Shuffle and mix in some celebratory karaoke and you have everything you need for some virtual baseball fun.

The last of the contestants who had yet to play their first games in the MLB The Show Players League picked up their controllers on Monday. Aside from Trevor May (Twins) and Blake Snell (Rays), who both played Friday, Gavin Lux (Dodgers), Josh Hader (Brewers), Hunter Pence (Giants), David Dahl (Rockies), Juan Soto (Nationals), Ian Happ (Cubs), Tommy Kahnle (Yankees), Cole Tucker (Pirates), Dwight Smith Jr. (Orioles), Matt Carpenter (Cardinals) and Brett Phillips (Royals) got their first taste of the competition, as Carlos Santana (Indians) missed his four games due to technical difficulties.

• Players League standings, schedule, video

It was a night of celebration, both on and off the field. The evening began with Pence making the most of his 37th birthday by hitting a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth inning -- in what’s supposed to be a three-inning game -– against Phillips and the Royals. Instead of being doused with sunflower seeds when he returned to the dugout, his wife, "Let's Get Lexi" streamer Alexis Pence, ran in the room, showering him with sugar packets in honor of the victory.

But no matter how impressive the day began, it was Snell who closed it out in style.

The Rays’ hurler sported a 2-2 record entering the day, and it was his mission to go undefeated in all four games on Monday.

“[My Twitch subscribers] were upset, just like me,” Snell said of his Day 1 showing. “I needed to let the people know that the Rays are disgusting, and we’re 4-0 on the road. Sorry about that.”

Snell put up 18 runs against Happ in his first game and scored 13 in his last competition against Phillips, as he completed his 4-0 mission. In eight games, Snell has pushed 54 runs across the plate. The next closest is Joey Gallo, who has scored 30 in four games.

“It’s been a lot of fun,” Snell said. “It’s been frustrating. You want to do so good that you still put pressure on yourself like you do in real baseball. It’s so crazy. I have 54 runs scored, bro.”

The grip on his controller got a little tighter against Smith. Snell may have cruised through his first game, but he entered the bottom of the third trailing by three runs against the Orioles. However, he was able to find a way, crushing a three-run homer to tie the game before winning in extra innings.

“That whole time I was nervous because I started off so bad with the 2-2 record,” Snell said. “I don’t usually sweat like that, bro, but I knew I had to go 4-0 tonight. I needed to so bad.”

Snell’s mission was complete, captivating his audience the entire way with his singing and enthusiastic celebrations, but with 12 other players logged onto their Twitch streams, there were plenty other highlights throughout the night:

Birthday walk-off
The walk-off could’ve come so much earlier for Pence, who had a runner on second in the bottom of the third inning against Phillips and the Royals. Pence served a single into right field and his runner was feet away from stepping on the plate when he stood up and screamed, “Clutch rating: 99!” But it was then that he realized when he dropped his controller, his runner stopped in place, refusing to score. The ball was thrown in from the outfield and the runner was tagged out, as Pence sat down, confused, saying, "Why did he stop? I put the controller down.”

The back-and-forth chess match lasted until the ninth inning, when Pence hit a walk-off homer with Buster Posey to secure the 3-2 win.

“That’s why you don’t pinch-run for Buster Posey,” he screamed. “And I can’t mess up the baserunning!”

After Pence was doused with sugar packets from his wife, he texted Posey to let him know the outcome.

Soto shuffle
Hader was in control of Freddy Peralta on the mound to face Soto, who was hitting as himself. Just before the 3-2 pitch, Soto hit the virtual Soto Shuffle. Seconds later, he mashed a hanging curveball over the right-center-field fence and yelled, "If you’re hanging, we’re banging.” As his virtual self crossed home plate, Soto said, "And now we dance."

Story time
Pence’s third matchup of the night came against 23-year-old Cole Tucker, who told a story of meeting the 37-year-old Pence when Tucker was a kid.

“I forget what grade I was in, but he was like the hot rookie and he was raking,” Tucker recalled. “I thought he was like the coolest guy ever because he was long and fast and uncoordinated like me. I just always remembered that, and then last year when we played the Rangers, he hit a double and was on second base and I talked to him and I told him the story I just told you guys and he was like, ‘Dude, that’s so cool. I’m so glad you told me that, but there’s someone in the crowd today who is a little kid who is looking up to you the same way you looked up to me, so never forget that. But I’m really glad you said that to me.’ So that made me feel good.”

Tuesday’s games to watch
Gallo stole the show Friday on Day 1 of the Players League, and he'll attempt to do so again on Tuesday. The Rangers slugger (4-0) is the only undefeated player in the tournament and is slated to play Ty Buttrey (Angels), Luke Jackson (Braves), Eduardo Rodriguez (Red Sox) and Rhys Hoskins (Phillies).

The remaining participants for Tuesday include Ryne Stanek (Marlins), Amir Garrett (Reds), Lance McCullers Jr. (Astros), Carl Edwards Jr. (Mariners), Jon Duplantier (D-backs), Jeff McNeil (Mets) and Bo Bichette (Blue Jays).

Where to watch
Over the next few weeks, the league will be livestreamed on MLB social media accounts (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Twitch), MLB Network's Twitch site, "MLB The Show" social media (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Twitch), the clubs’ social media accounts and MLB.com. Each player will also stream it from their individual Twitch or YouTube accounts.

Aside from those streams, in order to provide a full gameday experience, MLB Network will provide a livestream in which it will select the best one-on-one matchups and look into other game results and friendly banter.