Xander Bogaerts belted a grand slam in the bottom of the 12th inning Thursday night as the San Diego Padres rallied past the visiting Colorado Rockies 7-3.
Fernando Tatis Jr. started the inning with a sacrifice bunt that moved automatic runner Jake Cronenworth to third. After Valente Bellozo (0-1) intentionally walked Jackson Merrill and Manny Machado to fill the bases, Bogaerts lined a 1-0 pitch into the seats in left for his second homer of the year.
David Morgan (1-0) pitched 1 2/3 hitless innings of relief to earn the win. Colorado got the go-ahead run to third in the top of the 12th, but Willi Castro was cut down at the plate on Brenton Doyle’s bouncer to Cronenworth at second.
Each team scored a run in both the 10th and 11th innings.
In the 10th, Tyler Freeman gave Colorado the lead with a one-out RBI single, but Machado lofted a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the inning to level the score.
In the 11th, both teams got RBI doubles from their backup catchers. Brett Sullivan put the Rockies up 3-2 with his hit into the right field corner, but San Diego’s Luis Campusano kept the game going with a two-out liner down the left field line.
Neither team’s starter or bulk reliever was around for the decision. Colorado’s Chase Dollander took over after Jimmy Herget pitched a 1-2-3 first inning and permitted a run on four hits and a walk over 4 1/3 innings, fanning three. San Diego’s Randy Vasquez gave up seven hits and a run in 5 2/3 innings, walking none and whiffing eight.
Vasquez’s only mistake was a low fastball to Doyle in the top of the third. The Rockies’ No. 9 hitter golfed it an estimated 408 feet over the wall in center field for his first homer of the year.
The Padres equalized in their half of the third. Freddy Fermin legged out an infield single with one out and reached third on Cronenworth’s single up the middle. Tatis lined a sacrifice fly to left that easily scored Fermin.
Colorado catcher Hunter Goodman was hit in the hand by a Vasquez pitch to start the top of the sixth and left the game later in the inning with a cut on his right middle finger.
