San Diego Padres starter Yu Darvish got rocked for eight hits and six earned runs over three innings of work on Thursday night against the Washington Nationals, leading to the Nats jumping out to an eight-run lead in the fourth inning with Max Scherzer on the mound. If that isn't the recipe for an automatic win...
...then perhaps a 28-year-old rookie relief pitcher hitting a grand slam in his first career at-bat is the recipe for a win. But that would never happen, you know?
Yep. After Fernando Tatis took Scherzer deep to cut the deficit to seven runs, and some control issues led to a bases-loaded walk to Wil Myers to cut the Nationals' lead to six, it was Daniel Camarena's turn. Daniel Camarena. The relief pitcher whose second taste of offensive responsibility in the majors — he had his first at-bat in mid-June — came against one of the most devastating pitchers in the game, when he was at his angriest. When the inning was all said and done, the Padres had scored seven runs, and that eight-run lead was a distant memory.
Here are some fun facts about Camarena's unforgettable blast.
— The only other pitcher in league history whose first career hit was a grand slam was — of course! — Bill Duggleby on April 21, 1898 (via Stats by STATS)
— The only other players with a grand slam off of Scherzer are Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Stephen Piscotty and Matt Joyce (via Michael Stern)
— The only other Padre pitcher to hit a grand slam was Mike Corkins, who did so in 1970 (via Jesse Agler)
— The last relief pitcher to hit a grand slam was Don Robinson, who did so in September of 1985 (via Jeremy Frank).
Did we mention that his parents were in attendance?
"I still don't have a word for it," Camarena said (via Daniel Guerrero of MLB.com). "I'm still trying to find a word for my debut, and then this took it to a whole other level. In that AB, just trying to put the ball in play in that situation. Especially against Max, that's hard to do. I was just trying with everything that I had just to put a ball in play.
"Family is everything to me. We've been so tight-knit. I mean my older brother, we probably spent more time in the batting cage at home than we did practicing pitching. I still haven't even gotten the chance to see him, so I can't wait to give him a big hug and just share this moment."
The final touch? A walkoff base knock from Trent Grisham to seal the deal and make Camarena's grand slam all the more important.
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