Padres tie game, walk it off with B2B homers

SAN DIEGO — Quite a flip of occasions at Petco Park on Monday evening:

For all of the sluggers on this loaded Padres lineup, these most likely weren’t the 2 you’ll decide for back-to-back game-tying and profitable house runs within the backside of the ninth.

And but, there they have been within the Nos. 8 and 9 spots within the lineup, launching a pair of no-doubters because the Padres turned a one-run deficit right into a 5-4 victory over the D-backs.

Dahl’s pinch-hit shot tied the sport. Kim’s laser into the left-field seats received it, the primary walk-off house run of his massive league profession.

It marked the primary time in franchise historical past the Padres had received a sport on back-to-back game-tying and walk-off house runs. It marked the primary time in massive league historical past {that a} staff’s 8 and 9 hitters had executed so.

“I’m kind of sorry to David since I took all the spotlight,” Kim mentioned afterward.

Dahl didn’t appear to thoughts.

“I’ve been watching [the Padres] from afar the last couple years here, and they just look so fun,” mentioned Dahl, who compelled his manner onto the Opening Day roster after signing a Minor League cope with the membership in the course of the offseason. “I’m so thankful to be a part of it now.”

Not merely a part of it. Dahl’s homer ignited a crowd that had gone quiet half an inning earlier when Evan Longoria’s blast put Arizona on prime. No sooner had Dahl circled the bases and touched house plate than the Petco Park sound system blared these three acquainted beats.

The crowd solely wanted to listen to it as soon as. They knew what to do.

“Our fans chanting my name — Ha. Seong. Kim. — that always gives me that extra-energy at-bat,” mentioned Kim by Korean interpreter Leo Bae. “David Dahl — great hit, tying home run. I was just wanting to keep that momentum going. I had a great pitch to hit, and I was able to walk it off.”

Kim’s walk-off homer was the primary in franchise historical past from a participant who had began the sport because the staff’s No. 9 hitter (maybe to be anticipated after 5 a long time with out a designated hitter). Dahl, in the meantime, turned the primary Padres pinch-hitter to belt a game-tying homer within the ninth inning or later since Hunter Renfroe in 2018 — additionally in opposition to the D-backs.

“Not easy to come off the bench and hit a home run,” mentioned San Diego supervisor Bob Melvin.

Dahl was a considerably shocking omission from the beginning lineup on Monday, as he’d began every of the earlier two video games in opposition to right-handed pitching. Instead, Rougned Odor received the beginning in proper subject, his first profession look within the outfield.

Odor doubled and scored within the second inning and was strong defensively. But with San Diego clinging to a one-run lead within the seventh, José Azocar entered as a defensive substitute.

Two innings later, the script had flipped. The Padres trailed by a run, and Melvin didn’t need the righty-hitting Azocar going through right-hander Scott McGough. He known as for Dahl.

“Honestly, when I saw I wasn’t playing, I just said, ‘Hey, I’m going to come up in a big spot tonight,’” Dahl mentioned. “Just stay ready all game.”

Doesn’t get a lot greater than a one-run sport within the backside of the ninth.

Dahl received a thigh-high splitter from McGough that tailed over the center of the plate. He didn’t miss, launching an opposite-field blast into the second row of seats in left-center.

“At night here, that’s not easy to do,” Melvin mentioned.

Of course, Dahl’s very presence signifies a significant shift within the Padres’ roster development. The strikes that made headlines this winter largely revolved round superstars. They added Xander Bogaerts and a slew of pitchers. They prolonged Manny Machado and Yu Darvish.

But San Diego additionally spent its winter addressing a vital space of want: bench depth. The membership added Matt Carpenter and Nelson Cruz to serve in a DH platoon with the opposite coming off the bench. Dahl, in the meantime, was an All-Star with Colorado as lately as 2019.

A yr in the past, the Padres constructed a stout beginning lineup that had loads of October success. They have been additionally unsustainably skinny on the bench. That turned painfully apparent throughout just a few of the most important moments within the National League Championship Series.

“It’s a little different this year,” Melvin mentioned. “We have a few more options.”

Dahl being one in every of them. As he strode to the plate within the prime of the ninth inning, Padres broadcaster Mark Grant intoned, “It’s bloop-and-a-blast time for San Diego.”

And you recognize what? A blast and a blast works, too.