SAN DIEGO -- Slam Diego is back. In style.
Xander Bogaerts ended the longest game at Petco Park in nearly five years with a walk-off grand slam, sending the Padres to a 7-3 victory over the Rockies on Thursday night at Petco Park.
With the winning run on third base in the 12th inning, the Rockies opted to intentionally walk Jackson Merrill and Manny Machado, loading the bases for Bogaerts. He quickly made them pay, turning on a Valente Bellozo fastball and sending it into the left-field seats.
“Just try to get something up and hit it to the outfield,” Bogaerts said. “I just had one job to do right there. You just try to get the run in. Didn’t have to be the big hero. I actually didn’t have to hit it out.”
No, he didn’t. But it sure made for quite the ending.
Bogaerts became the 10th Padre to hit a walk-off grand slam and the first since Machado in August 2020 (the week the Slam Diego moniker was born). Thursday’s slam is now the latest walk-off slam, innings-wise, in Padres history.
“He’s just swinging it really good right now,” said manager Craig Stammen. “He’s got a lot of confidence. Him being in that spot, we felt really good about it.”
The inning unfolded quickly in front of Bogaerts. With Jake Cronenworth having started the frame at second base as the automatic runner, Fernando Tatis Jr. took it upon himself to drop down a sacrifice bunt. Cronenworth advanced to third.
Merrill was promptly walked, as was Machado. It meant that Bogaerts -- who was due up fourth in the inning -- came to the plate after only one pitch had been thrown.
He said the Tatis bunt surprised him. As did the first intentional walk. But Bogaerts is a 14-year veteran. He said he’s played enough baseball to understand how things might play out. He was ready. Or ready enough, at least.
As for the walks in front of him, Bogaerts insisted there was no chip on his shoulder -- only a game to win.
“I just wanted to get the run in,” Bogaerts said. “It was a long game.”
Indeed -- the longest the Padres have played since July 2023 in Philadelphia. They hadn’t played a game of at least 12 innings at Petco Park since their memorable 16-inning encounter against the Dodgers in August 2021.
As with any game that lasts so deep into the night, this game featured its share of twists and turns. The Padres were down to their final out in the bottom of the 11th before Luis Campusano -- who had only entered an inning prior -- laced a game-tying double to left.
“Thought he made a good pitch, down and in,” Campusano said. “But I just put a good swing on it, and a good thing happened.”
Cronenworth had a chance to win the game a batter later, but popped out in foul territory, sending the game to the 12th. In that 12th inning, he would more than do his part with his glove.
Brenton Doyle shot a grounder toward second. Cronenworth charged it and fired home just in time to nab the speedy Willi Castro at the plate. (Campusano applied a smooth tag to complete the play.)
That kept the Rockies off the board in the top of the 12th inning, setting the stage for Bogaerts to hit his second walk-off home run as a Padre. Bellozo’s first-pitch sinker was a ball. His second was on the inside corner, thigh-high.
Bogaerts didn’t miss. As he said, he only needed to hit a deep enough fly ball to end the game. So he knew it was over when he hit it. Which meant Bogaerts could bask in the moment. He took three steps backward toward his home dugout and watched the ball carry.
When it left the yard, Bogaerts merely dropped his bat and turned toward a handful of teammates up the first-base line for a series of high-fives.
He joined Machado and Adrián González as the only Padres to hit a walk-off grand slam in extra innings. In fact, by innings, it was the latest walk-off grand slam in any game since Detroit's John Hicks took Baltimore's Ryan Eades deep in the 12th inning of a game in September 2019.
“It took a little longer than I think we wished,” said Cronenworth.
But -- even after a cross-country flight and the longest game in San Diego in recent memory -- no one was complaining.