Two Grand Slams On Back-to-Back Pitches
Photo via MLB
The game of baseball can be weird sometimes in the way things work. This was prominent with Red Sox newly acquired second baseman Luis Urias. During a game on August 17th vs the Nationals Urias came up to the plate with the bases loaded. Urias, known for being a decent power bat especially for a second basemen, had a chance to get the Red Sox back in the game being down 9-1. On a 1-1 pitch Urias leaned back and smashed the ball to deep left center for his first career grand slam. Now the Red Sox would go on to lose that game 10-7 but it was a nice moment for Urias to get his first big slam. Fast forward to August 19th and Urias is in a similar spot against a new rival, The New York Yankees. Now Urias had been subbed out of the game on the 17th and had a scheduled off day on the 18th. Therefore, the last pitch he saw before his first at bat today he hit his first career grand slam.
Urias comes up bases loaded against the AL favorite for the CY Young award, Gerrit Cole. First pitch swinging Urias sits back on a cutter and leans back as he watches his second career grand slam fly into left center. So, the last two pitches Urias has seen have been grand slams. Now if that sounds rare it’s because it is even to hit two in back-to-back games. The last Red Sox to hit a grand slam in that fashion was Jimmie Foxx in 1940. Now to see how ridiculous this actually is you can look back in baseball history. Jim Northrup is the only other player to hit back-to-back pitches out for grand slams only the way back in 1968. Now that list adds Luis Urias who earlier this week had never hit a grand slam in his life.