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D-backs' late slam does in Padres
Gregerson misses location on grand slam in seventh
By Barry M. Bloom / MLB.com
09/27/09 1:10 AM EST
PHOENIX -- The Padres seemed to have their 38th come-from-behind victory in the palm of their collective hands on Saturday night at Chase Field. But with one swing of the bat, pinch-hitter Chad Tracy negated that notion. Tracy's grand slam, a solid drive to right-center field off reliever Luke Gregerson, paved the way for an 8-5 D-backs win. The 0-2 pitch was supposed to be outside to the left-handed hitter, and catcher Nick Hundley set up on that part of the plate. But Gregerson's fastball was delivered low, right down the middle into Tracy's wheelhouse, and he jumped on it for his third career grand slam. "The thought process was good," Padres manager Bud Black said after his club's three-game winning streak came to an end. "The execution, though, wasn't, on that particular pitch." The final game of the three-game series and the season between the two anchor tenants in the National League West is slated to be played here on Sunday. The Padres fell behind, 3-0, after the D-backs notched a three-spot in the first inning against San Diego starter Wade LeBlanc. But the 72-84 Padres came roaring back against D-backs starter Dan Haren with five runs in the fifth. The outburst included Tony Gwynn's RBI triple, a run-scoring double by Adrian Gonzalez and RBI singles from David Eckstein, Chase Headley and Oscar Salazar. But the lead never really seemed secure. After Mark Reynolds' 44th homer of the season, which came with one out in the fifth, the Padres clung to a 5-4 lead. In the seventh, Stephen Drew opened with a lineout to left. Black then opted to replace the left-handed Joe Thatcher with the right-handed Gregerson with a bevy of righty swingers due up. But once D-backs manager A.J. Hinch went to the bench for lefty-swinging pinch-hitters Miguel Montero and Tracy, Black didn't have another lefty reliever to answer with. "It's OK," Black said. "That's what we have. Our bullpen has been getting guys out. You never know how an inning is going to play out, but we felt good about it. Gregerson has been so good. Two of the first three righties he faced got hits. Sometimes you've got to give the other team credit. They're playing, too." Those two righty hitters, Justin Upton and Reynolds, singled, and the pinch-hitting Montero was hit on the foot by a pitch to load the bases. "That was a back-foot slider that got too close to the back foot," Gregerson said about the pitch to Montero. Black had to stay with Gregerson against the pinch-hitting Tracy, who lashed into that errant 0-2 pitch for the game-winner. "That was definitely his pitch," said Gregerson, whose record dropped to 2-4. "He likes the ball down and over the plate, and that's pretty much where I put it. It was one bad pitch, and it killed me. I tried to get it away, but I couldn't get it there." It was Tracy's second pinch-hit homer of the season off Gregerson. The other came here on July 6 with two outs in the eighth inning. That solo shot tied the score at 5, and Arizona won it, 6-5, in the ninth on Reynolds' walk-off single. Tracy, who has been relegated to pinch-hitting duties as the D-backs have tried to develop the .212-hitting Brandon Allen at first base since the end of August, is expected to be in the starting lineup on Sunday, Hinch said. "Tracy is a real pro," Hinch said of the veteran, who is 8-for-27 (.296) with three homers and nine RBIs as a pinch-hitter this season. "He's seen his job come and go, [and he's] trying to find that niche on how to help a young team. ... Things really haven't gone very well for him in recent at-bats. He's really been scuffling with the transition into a pinch-hit-only role." Tracy's future here is sketchy at best. The team owns a $7 million option with a $1 million buyout, and it is not expected to keep Tracy at that price. He's batting .229 with seven homers and 38 RBIs in 93 games and missed all of June with a right oblique strain. So Saturday night's heroics obviously were a highlight of a very frustrating season for Tracy and his 67-88 club. The crowd of 39,332 gave Tracy a standing ovation. "It was awesome," he said. "I finally got a pitch I could handle. I've played here [for six years], and that's the first time I've had a curtain call. It's a pretty unbelievable feeling."Barry M. Bloom is a national reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
