Wild Padres Walk-Off: 30 Years in The Making

Overtime Heroics Editorial

860 days ago

The Padres walk-off win against Colorado was the exclamation point of their current nine-game win streak and also helped them to grab sole possession of first place in the NL West. This win also marked a spot in their history that had never been done before: winning a game at home due to a wild pitch.

Wild Padres Walk-Off: Southern California Drought

Since their founding in 1969, the Padres were considered a lackluster team with only two NL pennant wins in 1984 and 1998. Winning the pennant in those years wouldn"t help with much as they lost the World Series in both and haven"t come close to being back since…until now. With stars like Fernando Tatis Jr., Eric Hosmer, and Manny Machado on their squad, it seems like a World Series appearance is within reach for the first time since "98.

Aside from their playoff chances increasing, San Diego"s victory against Colorado back on May 18th was one for the books as it was the first time in the Friar"s 127 walk-off wins at Petco Park that occurred due to a wild pitch. Most of their walk-off wins at home have come from singles (53), home runs (41), doubles (8), and errors (8). With the California rule in effect, once extra innings rolled around, it seemed inevitable that something like this was going to occur.

This game also marked the first time they had walked it off on a wild pitch in 30 years. On April 15, 1991, former outfielder Shawn Abner was able to swipe home on a wild pitch from former Reds reliever Ted Power on the mound and Bip Roberts up to bat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prqvTVYBZ78

To add to the Padres walk-off winner, Blake Snell went a season-long six innings with 11 strikeouts and one earned run while locked in a tight pitcher"s duel with Austin Gomber who also went six strong innings and allowed one earned run behind seven strikeouts.

Wild Padres Walk-Off: What"s Next

With their latest series sweep against the Seattle Mariners, the Friars will head to Milwaukee and take on the Brewers in a four-game set. Blake Snell is set to take the bump for San Diego while the Brewers will be giving the nod to Brandon Woodruff. Both pitchers are making their tenth starts of the season and coming off of strong win streaks so this matchup could potentially bring us some more Padres walk-off wins.

Follow me on Twitter at @antadinolfi3 for more of my content. Don’t forget to check out our baseball podcast, Cheap Seat Chatter! We’ll see ya there!

Come join the discussion made by the fans at the Overtime Heroics forums! A place for all sports fans!

main image credit Embed from Getty Images