One of the many amazing things about baseball is; a bad night can become a great night in the blink of an eye.
Friday night at Petco Park the Pirates thought they were on their way to an 8th straight win. Then a couple of Padres had great games with one swing of the bat, and the Friars had themselves a walk-off, 6-2 win.
In the 7th inning the Padres were down 2-0. With runners at first and second with nobody out Abraham Almonte was sent up to sacrifice the runners over. But, after taking a pair of balls manager Bud Black took off the bunt and gave Almonte the green light.
Abraham lined the next pitch in to the left-centerfield gap for a game-tying, 2-run double. The game stayed tied until the bottom of the 9th inning, when the Padres almost gave up the most golden of opportunities.
A walk and an error put runners at second and third with nobody out. Cory Spangenberg was intentionally walked to load the bases, giving the Padres three shots at scoring the winning run.
Alexi Amarista pinch-hit and grounded a ball to second baseman Neil Walker, who threw home to get one out but Pittsburgh catcher Francisco Cervelli inexplicably held on to the ball instead of completing the double play.
It came back to haunt the Pirates. Yangervis Solarte also grounded out, which would have been the final out of the inning. Instead it kept the bases loaded for Derek Norris. The Padres catcher had struck out in his previous four at-bats. But that fifth one was glorious.
Norris ripped a 1-0 pitch from Rob Scahill over the centerfield wall for a walk-off grand slam.
“This guy’s got a lot of grit and a lot of heart,” said manager Bud Black. “He rose up at the most critical time.”
The second slam of Norris’ career gave the Padres the 6-2 win. Same teams tomorrow night at Petco Park; Padres starter Tyson Ross takes the mound against Pittsburgh’s Charlie Morton.
