Washington Nationals: Top Five Late Inning Grand Slams
The Washington Nationals beat the Dodgers on Saturday after hitting a grand slam. How does it compare to other late-inning slams in Nats history?
Gerardo Parra’s grand slam homer in Saturday’s Washington Nationals win at Dodger Stadium was the 58th bases loaded four-bagger in Nats’ history, but not all grand slams are created equal. Parra’s dramatic blast was only one of 11 that was hit in the seventh inning or later when the Nats were either behind or tied in the game.
Time will tell whether the newest Nationals’ heroics will spark the 2019 Nats out of their early-season doldrums. If so, the homer may take its place among the biggest late-inning grand slams in team history. There have been some dramatic ones over the years, and today we’re looking at the top five late-inning grand slams for the Nats.
#5 — Howie Kendrick Walks-Off the Giants
Day/night doubleheaders are grueling at best and when bad weather is involved, getting through the day is even more of a chore.
After losing the first game of the twin bill by a 4-2 count to the San Francisco Giants on August 12, 2017, the division-leading Nationals looked to rebound in game two behind ace right-hander Max Scherzer. Scherzer did his part, striking out 10 Giants’ hitters over seven innings pitched, but left with the score tied at 2-2.
Both teams were scoreless from innings eight through ten, but Washington’s bats woke up in the bottom of the eleventh off of Giants’ lefty Albert Suarez. After Daniel Murphy and Ryan Zimmerman singled to start the inning, Anthony Rendon was walked to load the bases for veteran Howie Kendrick. Needing only to plate one run to put a curly W in the books, Kendrick did that four times better by drilling the ball over the wall in deep left-center to give Washington a 6-2 win.
#4 — Werth Flips on the Fish
By the bottom of the eighth inning on April 9, 2014, Miami Marlins’ manager Mike Redmond had seen his team’s early 5-0 late reduced to a 7-6 advantage that seemed precarious at best against a talented Nationals’ squad. With men on second and third and one out, Redmond chose to walk Anthony Rendon to set up a potential double play with Jayson Werth coming to the plate.
The Nats’ veteran leader turned a one-run deficit into a three-run lead with a violent swing on Carlos Marmol’s 0-1 pitch, driving the ball deep into the left field stands to send the crowd at Nationals Park into delirium. Punctuating his mammoth blast with an epic bat flip, Werth showed Redmond and the Marlins that sometimes the right choice and end up being the wrong one.
#3 — Mr. Walk-Off Does His Job
Cavernous RFK Stadium often seemed empty even with a large crowd in attendance, but by the bottom of the ninth inning in a May 12, 2007 Nats’ contest against the Phillies, there may have been more people on the field than there were in the stands watching.
Two rain delays had carried a Saturday night affair into the wee hours of Sunday morning until Ryan Zimmerman ended the madness at 1:42 am. with a grand slam off of Florida’s Jorge Julio to give Washington a 7-3 win.
#2 — Closing In Style
The 2009 Washington Nationals were baseball’s worst team, losing a team record 103 games and being non-competitive in many of them. When the club closed out its home schedule on September 30th at Nationals Park, few in attendance were probably expecting to see a memorable game. What they got was something straight out of Hollywood.
With two out, the bases loaded and New York Mets’ closer Francisco Rodriguez on the mound, Washington area native Justin Maxwell came to the plate as the Nats’ last hope. With their fate resting on the sub .250 hitting Maxwell, things were looking bleak for the Nats, but the lanky outfielder batted Rodriguez to a 3-2 count.
On the ninth pitch of the at-bat, Maxwell sent a soaring fly ball to left field that looked to have a chance to leave the park. Mets’ left-fielder Angel Pagan then circled under the ball and seemed to be in a position to make the catch, but the ball barely made it over Pagan’s outstretched glove and cleared the wall to give Washington a dramatic 7-4 win.
#1 — We’re Not Gonna Take It
For the first six years of their existence, the Washington Nationals were routinely beaten up by their divisional neighbors to the north in Philadelphia. The Phillies won 71 of the 110 games played between the teams during that time frame, with many of the wins coming by large margins. Making the experience worse for the Nats’ faithful was the fact that Phillies’ fans often invaded Washington to watch their team beat up on the home squad, and did so with all of the civility of the Huns invading Rome.
By 2011, the tide had turned, and the Nationals would end up winning ten of the 18 games played between the teams. Probably the most exciting of the ten wins came on August 19, 2011, when Ryan Zimmerman once again came up big in the clutch.
In the first game of a three-game set at Nationals Park, Philadelphia jumped out to a 4-0 lead but saw the Nats battle back to within two runs heading into the bottom of the ninth. With Phils’ hard-throwing closer Ryan Madson taking the mound things looked bleak for the Nats, but Washington rallied to tie the score at 4-4 on RBI hits by Jonny Gomes and Ian Desmond.
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With two outs and the bases loaded, Zimmerman worked the count full against Madson before drilling a rocket shot down the left-field line that left the park in a hurry and gave Washington a thrilling 8-4 win.