Bogaerts Walk‑Off Slam

Twelve innings in, San Diego had one run to get and three bases to fill, and Colorado chose to put Jackson Merrill and Manny Machado on intentionally. Xander Bogaerts saw a 1-0 pitch from Valente Bellozo and ended the game with a grand slam for a 7-3 Padres win on Thursday, April 9. (mlb.com) That swing was not just a walk-off homer. Major League Baseball counts it as Bogaerts’ ninth career grand slam, his second with San Diego, and the Padres’ first walk-off win of the 2026 season. (abcnews.com) The setup was pure extra-innings baseball. Fernando Tatis Jr. opened the bottom of the 12th with a sacrifice bunt that moved automatic runner Jake Cronenworth from second base to third, which meant a simple fly ball could have ended it before the slam ever happened. (abcnews.com) Colorado had one last chance to get out of the inning by creating a force play at every base. Instead, the decision to load the bases handed Bogaerts the exact at-bat that could turn one mistake into four runs. (mlb.com) The game had been tied, broken, and tied again for three straight extra frames. Tyler Freeman put the Rockies ahead 2-1 in the 10th, Manny Machado answered with a sacrifice fly, Brett Sullivan made it 3-2 Colorado in the 11th, and Luis Campusano tied it again with a two-out double. (abcnews.com) The play that kept the ending available came a half-inning earlier. In the top of the 12th, Jake Cronenworth fielded a grounder at second base and threw out Willi Castro at home plate, stopping the go-ahead run before Bogaerts ever came up. (abcnews.com) San Diego had already spent most of the night surviving on pitching and defense. Randy Vásquez gave up one run in 5 2/3 innings with eight strikeouts, and closer Mason Miller struck out the side in the ninth on 10 pitches while extending his scoreless streak to 27 2/3 innings dating to last season. (nbcsandiego.com) The Padres also got a little history with the finish. Major League Baseball’s recap called it the longest game at Petco Park in nearly five years, and Bogaerts became the first Padre since Manny Machado in August 2020 to hit a walk-off grand slam. (mlb.com) That is why the clip spread so fast after midnight on the East Coast. A one-run game turned into a four-run final on one swing, in a stadium that had already sat through 12 innings of missed chances, replay reviews, bunts, strikeouts, and one pitch that changed the box score all at once. (abcnews.com)