Daniel Camarena's magic moment
On their way to a 9-8 walk-off win over the Nationals, the San Diego Padres found a little of their own magic in the form of relief pitcher Daniel Camarena.
Teams that have a legitimate shot at winning a World Series trophy need magic moments. Not just one, a bunch of them.
They need them in the playoffs, of course, but they also need them to sprout up and help them win games that they have no business winning during the regular season to remind everyone on and around the team that this team is special.
The 2021 San Diego Padres have had a handful of those moments so far this season, but I don’t think any of them compare to what happened last night.
Setting the stage
A night after getting hammered 15-5 by the Nationals, the Padres pitching staff was reeling. The bullpen was reeling. They needed a good start from Yu Darvish so that everyone could get a rest.
But, just to be safe, the team called up Daniel Camarena from triple-A before the game. Camarena isn’t a pitching prospect, he’s a 28-year old lefty from Bonita that is here to soak up innings. That’s it. He goes out on the mound when the game is over to throw pitches so that the guys that are needed for the winnable games don’t have to.
Darvish was terrible. He gave up 6 runs over 3 innings before being pulled. When Camarena was trotting out of the bullpen, he might as well have been waving a white flag. The Padres were giving this game up, knowing they were going to lose their four-game series against the Nationals as a result, and focusing on the next one.
Camarena did was he does, giving up a 2-run HR to Trea Turner in his first inning of pitching. That doesn’t matter. His performance doesn’t matter. Again, he’s just here to soak innings.
Scherzer falls apart
Max Scherzer cruised into the bottom of the 4th with an 8-0 lead. The only hit he had given up to that point was a weak infield single to Victor Caratini in the 3rd inning. But, instead of locking in and dominating, Scherzer lost his command.
It started with this pitch that Tatis hit into the upper deck:
It seemed like that was going to be nothing but a blip when he struck out Jake Cronenworth in the next at-bat, but then it wasn’t.
Scherzer put Machado on by hitting him with a pitch. Trent Grisham, who we’ll get to, then hit a screaming single. Eric Hosmer then found himself on base after also being hit by a pitch. Bases loaded.
Wil Myers worked a 9-pitch walk for an RBI. Now it’s 8-2. Caratini struck out on 7 pitches for the second out of the inning, but it felt like the hitters had figured something out about Scherzer.
And then, in the purest sign that they were not trying to win this game, Jayce Tingler sent Daniel Camarena up to bat with the bases loaded. It was his second major-league at-bat, his first one ending pathetically just three weeks ago. The best case scenario was weak contact, right?
WHAT?!?
Alright, let me tell you where I was and what I was doing when Camarena hit his grand slam. Because it’s one of those “where were you?” type of moments.
I was standing out by the Tony Gwynn statue, hanging out with a dozen or so Padres fans that wanted to congregate and talk about why we were still at this stupid 8-1 game. We all had stories on if/where we had seen Tatis’ HR on the way to the statue. Then things started happening.
By time Camarena got to the plate, we were all pretty incensed. I understand what the Padres were doing and why, but I was annoyed to be drinking a $15 beer only to be told the team wasn’t trying to win this one tonight. It was a waste of my time, energy and money.
Some jokester said something about Camarena joining “Slam Diego” and I confidently said “If he hits one out, I’ll take off my shirt and run around like a crazy person.”
One minute later, I had ripped my shirt off and was swinging it over my head while running laps around a statue of my favorite Padres player ever. I somehow managed to not spill my beer.
If you haven’t heard the TV call of the grand slam yet, you should. Mark Grant is losing his mind, just as everyone in the stands is losing their minds, realizing that what they just witnessed shouldn’t have happened.
Relief pitchers do not hit grand slams. They don’t hit. They don’t hit grand slams for their first career hit. They don’t hit grand slams in their second career plate appearance.
Daniel Camarena was here to soak innings and save the Padres bullpen. That’s it. That is it. But, with teams like this, magic moments happen and you just have to grab on and enjoy the ride.
The finishing touch
The fun didn’t stop with Camarena’s grand slam.
Tommy Pham came up next and hit a double, because of course he did. He finished the night 3-5 and is right back to being a stud. The Nationals decided that was enough Scherzer and removed him from the game.
Tatis came up again, having hit a HR earlier in the inning, and hit a single to score Pham. Just like that, the Padres had turned an 8-0 deficit into an 8-7 ballgame.
Two innings later, Pham came back up with Wil Myers on third base and hit another double to tie the game at 8-8.
The Padres bullpen pitched five scoreless innings, giving up just 1 hit, after Camarena’s grand slam. Clearly, that woke everyone up. They knew that moment couldn’t be part of a loss. This game was as important as a playoff game now, and the guys were playing like it. Never was that more apparent then when Jake Cronenworth jumped out of his shoes to get the final out in the top of the 9th.
In the bottom of the 9th, it felt preordained that the top of the lineup would find a way to score. Tommy Pham again came through with a clutch hit, singling to start the inning. After groundouts for Tatis and Cronenworth, the Nationals intentionally walked Machado and set the stage for Grisham.
There was an argument to be made to walk Grisham, as well, and face Eric Hosmer with the bases loaded. But facing a guy with the bases loaded is never fun, so this was the second best option.
I’m not afraid to say I snuck down near the Padres' dugout to watch the bottom of the 9th. You could feel the electricity coming off the same guys that had seemed lifeless earlier in the game. They also had complete confidence in Grisham, and nobody was surprised when he got the walk-off hit to win the game.
That’s just how magic moments work. They present an opportunity to turn a loss into a win, to turn a series loss into a series tie, and all you have to do is step up and fight like hell. It’s how the baseball gods determine which teams get the lucky bounces and which ones don’t.
When Daniel Camarena turned an 8-2 game into an 8-6 game with an impossible grand slam for his first career hit, the Padres stepped up. They made the most of their magic moment and put on a show for their fans. They proved themselves worthy of the baseball gods.
I had just got done surfing in Mission Beach after a great time, checked my phone to discover the 8 run deficit and started changing out and heading home. I heard the call for Tatis' bomb when I started my car. I was heading over the bridge from Mission Beach back east towards Seaworld drive looking at a beautiful sunset over Mission Bay when I heard the call by Jesse...it was absolutely unreal...people in traffic all honking their horns listening to the game going crazy for the Camarena bomb. Such a special night.