Tatis punctuates DR's first Classic grand slam with a beautiful bat flip

Fernando Tatis Jr. isn't playing for Slam Diego right now, but he brought a little of it with him to Team Dominican Republic's 10-1 win over Israel on Monday afternoon. The Padres superstar launched a no-doubt grand slam in the second inning, the first in Dominican Republic's World Baseball Classic history.

Israel starter Ryan Prager found himself in a tough spot with the bases loaded against a DR lineup with no real holes, and after Geraldo Perdomo walked to bring in the first run of the game, Tatis stepped to the plate.

The left-handed Prager had been trying to keep the Dominican hitters off balance with his slow stuff, and he doubled up on two 77 mph changeups to start off the at-bat against Tatis. After Tatis fouled off an 87.7 mph fastball, Prager came back with the change and the slugger was far from fooled.

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Tatis sent it 400 feet to left field and he knew it was gone off the bat. There has been no shortage of electric celebrations from the Dominican team so far this tournament, and Tatis added to that with a glorious bat flip.

Tatis' drive was the fourth grand slam of this World Baseball Classic, tying this year's event with the 2023 tournament for the most in a single Classic. It was also the eighth homer so far this tournament for the D.R., which hit its ninth just two innings later, when Oneil Cruz smoked a liner to right off Zack Weiss.

Cruz's drive tied the D.R. for its highest home run total in a single classic (2006 and '17) and put it just five homers behind the all-time club mark for most in a World Baseball Classic (2009 Mexico, 14). At 115.8 mph, Cruz's homer tied D.R. teammate Junior Caminero's shot vs. the Netherlands on Sunday for the second-hardest-hit homer from the last two Classics (since pitch-tracking began). Cruz's 116.8 mph drive against Nicaragua on Friday stands as the hardest-hit Classic homer in the pitch-tracking era.