Grisham hits walk-off HR ... in road uniform
This browser does not support the video element.
Even as the injuries have piled up, the playoff-bound Padres have insisted they're ready to meet any obstacles thrown their way over the next month.
Trent Grisham made that point emphatically on Friday night -- launching a walk-off three-run blast out of Oracle Park to cap a 6-5 Padres victory over the Giants in the nightcap of their doubleheader.
Yes, a Padres walk-off in San Francisco. In the seventh inning. It's been a strange year.
"It's a 2020 walk-off -- on the road, in the seventh inning,” Grisham said. “It was just different. It got about halfway up in the air before I realized, ‘Hey, that's for a walk-off.’ Being on the road, wearing road unis. It was just different.”
This browser does not support the video element.
Until Grisham’s blast, Game 2 mostly felt like a calamity. Right fielder Wil Myers exited before the fourth inning as a precaution because of a tight quad. Four batters later, starter Dinelson Lamet left the game with right biceps tightness. He joins Mike Clevinger (right elbow impingement) as starters whose status for the National League Wild Card Series at Petco Park is uncertain.
The Padres are crossing their fingers for positive news on all three. But, ahead of their first trip to the postseason in 14 years, they’ve resolved to roll with the punches, too.
“It’s the confidence we have in each other and the guys we have in this clubhouse,” Grisham said. “No matter what happens, we’re going to go out there and play some good ball and give it our best shot.”
This browser does not support the video element.
The game was the makeup of a game scheduled for Petco Park earlier this month, meaning the Padres batted last at Oracle Park (though they wore their road pinstripes). This season, doubleheaders consist of two seven-inning games, rather than nine.
As such, Friday marked the Padres’ second seventh-inning walk-off of the season, after Myers’ three-run shot beat the Mariners during an August doubleheader at Petco Park. But this was the first road walk-off in franchise history, according to Elias.
It also put a dent in San Francisco’s postseason hopes. The Giants could’ve moved two games ahead of both Philadelphia and Milwaukee for the first of two Wild Card spots in the National League. Instead, they’re one game up on both with two to play.
“This sucked,” Giants manager Gabe Kapler said. “It was a gut-punch loss.”
Trailing by two in the seventh inning, the Padres rallied for their 22nd comeback win. Tommy Pham singled to start the frame, and Greg Garcia walked to set the stage for Grisham, who mashed a 3-2 changeup to the walkway alongside McCovey Cove.
This browser does not support the video element.
“The feeling in the dugout, we've been exceptionally tough late in games and in the ninth inning,” said Padres manager Jayce Tingler.
“I was just sitting on a heater,” Grisham said. “And I just happened to pick that one up.”