Everybody loves the dramatic moment that comes with a walk-off home run. What could be better?
A walk-off grand slam. In extra innings.
That’s what Matt Carpenter did for the St. Louis Cardinals in the first game of their doubleheader against the Toronto Blue Jays. Kolten Wong tied the game up in the 11th inning with a run-scoring triple before Toronto opted to walk the bases loaded for Carpenter.
Then, he did this.
That’s a #walkoff – now let’s go eat. https://t.co/8qEDEAAx0I #PapaSlam pic.twitter.com/2CNvQ6dVWz
— MLB (@MLB) April 27, 2017
One can only assume that after they were done celebrating, everyone jogged down the right-field line so they could sit down and eat their prepared sandwiches before getting ready for Game 2. Isn’t that how doubleheaders work?
Just in case you were wondering, walk-off grand slams don’t happen all that often. For the Cardinals, it hadn’t happened in nearly 10 years before Carpenter launched that pitch into the seats.
Matt Carpenter: Cardinals’ first walk-off grand slam since 2008 (Aaron Miles off Padres’ Bryan Corey in bottom of the ninth)
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) April 27, 2017
Walk-off grand slams are even more rare in extra innings, though. It hadn’t happened this century before Thursday.
.@MattCarp13 becomes the first @Cardinals player to hit a #walkoff slam in extras since Tommy Herr on April 18, 1987. pic.twitter.com/xTvTIveKry
— MLB Stats (@MLBStats) April 27, 2017
That’s one way to keep the momentum flowing in the right direction — especially since April hasn’t gone how the Cardinals would’ve liked.
As recently as April 19th, St. Louis was just 3-9, living in the basement of the National League Central and were 4.5 games off the pace. However, they’ve won 7 of 9 since and have a chance of getting back to .500 if they can sweep this doubleheader from the Blue Jays.
That seemed like a crazy thought about two weeks ago, but that’s baseball for ya.
About Matt Musico
Matt Musico currently manages Chin Music Baseball, contributes to The Sports Daily and is also an editor for numberFire. In the past, he has also written for FanDuel Insider and Bleacher Report. He’s a lover of all baseball, especially the Mets.
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