Trent Grisham’s walk-off home run lifts Padres past Pirates in 10th inning
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Trent Grisham showed bunt in the bottom of the 10th inning before the San Diego Padres gave him the green light.
Grisham swung away when he saw Chris Stratton’s 2-0 fastball and drove it 368 feet off the right-field foul pole for a two-run home run to lift the Padres to a 4-2 walk-off win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday afternoon before 44,395 at Petco Park.
“I’m a little surprised he actually swung,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “He’s probably one of the better bunters in the game. It got taken off and he ended up hitting the ball out of the ballpark.”
For the Pirates, it was a disappointing ending to a three-game series that was decided by four runs and saw them rally late from two-run deficits the past two games.
“When we play games like this, we have to make sure that we execute fully,” Shelton said. “We ended up not executing a couple pitches and ended up losing two of three because of it.”
After being held scoreless for seven innings by MacKenzie Gore, the Pirates wasted no time taking advantage when the Padres pulled the rookie left-hander by rallying for two runs in the eighth. Ke’Bryan Hayes doubled to drive in one run, then scored from third to tie the game on Josh VanMeter’s opposite-field single to tie the game.
The eighth-inning rally prevented Gore, the No. 3 overall pick in the 2017 MLB Draft, from getting the victory. The 23-year-old allowed two hits, three walks and had nine strikeouts while throwing 66 of his 93 pitches for strikes in a pitcher’s duel with Pirates righty Roansy Contreras, who gave up two runs on five hits and one walk.
“If you like pitching and you like young pitching, those are two guys that are going to pitch in major leagues a long time and have a lot of success,” Shelton said. “They went pitch for pitch. They were both really good. It was a fun game to sit back and watch two young pitchers get after it.”
The Padres capitalized on a Contreras mistake to take a 2-0 lead in the fifth. After giving up an infield single to Jorge Alfaro on a roller to third, Contreras threw a wild pitch that allowed Alfaro to reach second base. Grisham’s groundout to first advanced Alfaro to third, putting the Padres in position to break the scoreless tie.
Jose Azocar failed to execute a bunt and popped out to catcher Tyler Heineman for the second out, bringing Profar to the plate. When Contreras left a 1-0 belt-high changeup over the plate, Profar made him pay by drilling a liner 360 feet that hit the top of the right field fence and bounced over for his sixth home run and a 2-0 Padres lead.
The Padres replaced Gore in the eighth, only to see the Pirates rally against righty reliever Nabil Crismatt.
Tucupita Marcano, who went 2 for 3, hit a leadoff single to right. Hayes, who hit a three-run homer in Saturday’s 4-2 comeback win, followed with a liner to left that skipped off Grisham’s glove.
Shortstop Sergio Alcantara took Grisham’s relay and threw to the plate but Marcano slid to beat the tag as Hayes advanced to second. Hayes reached third on a groundout to first by designated hitter Bryan Reynolds and scored on VanMeter’s single to left.
“To get Ke’s hit and VanMeter’s two-out hit to give us a chance to tie the game and possibly win it,” Shelton said, “I think that’s a really encouraging sign.”
The Pirats got four scoreless innings of relief from Duane Underwood Jr., Wil Crowe and Stratton, who pitched a 1-2-3 ninth, but the Padres had runners on base in the sixth, seventh and eighth.
“I think where they got us were in those clutch moments later in the game,” Hayes said. “They were able to work some counts better, especially once they got into our bullpen. They were able to do a little better of a job with their at bats of that nature. Usually, in those close, tight games, you’re one hit away or a walk and hit away.”
Hayes was at the plate with the Pirates in position to score the go-ahead run in the 10th. Shelton started by employing Hoy Park, recalled from Triple-A Indianapolis when outfielder Ben Gamel (hamstring strain) was placed on the 10-day injured list, to pinch-run for Heineman at second base.
Marcano advanced Park to third with a sacrifice bunt. After Rodolfo Castro struck out, Luis Garcia threw a wild pitch to Hayes. Garcia touched triple digits, so the ball took a fortuitous bounce off the backstop and directly to the catcher Alfaro.
Hayes anticipated as much and held his hand up to signal to Park to stay at third. Instead, Park broke for home plate. He slid early and came up short of the plate and was tagged out by Alfaro to end the rally before Hayes could take a swing.
“We got a really crappy bounce there,” Shelton said. “In a situation like that, with Ke’ at the plate, we’ve got to be sure. He missed drastically and got the perfect kick and Alfaro made a really nice play jumping back and blocking the plate.”
Grisham got his swing and homered in the 10th to win it.