Giants Erase 9-1 Deficit to Win 11-10 on Walk-Off Grand Slam

Q: How did a 77-year-old ball boy's dive and a rookie's bat create one of baseball's most improbable comebacks?

A burst of belief and a rookie’s decisive swing turned a near-certain Giants loss into an 11-10 win. Down 9-1 in the eighth and facing a 99.9% loss expectancy, San Francisco got an emotional jolt when 77-year-old ball boy “Lefty” made a diving stop on a foul ball. While that play did not change the score, it became a symbolic moment of effort in a game that looked over, and it was widely seen as helping energize the dugout and crowd. The comeback then came from the bats. In the eighth, Matt Chapman and Rafael Devers hit back-to-back home runs as the Giants scored five times to cut the deficit and create pressure. In the ninth, still down 10-6, Chapman doubled in a run, Devers walked, and Jung Hoo Lee singled to load the bases with two outs. That brought up Bryce Eldridge, the 21-year-old rookie designated hitter. After failing in a similar spot two nights earlier, Eldridge attacked a 2-0 slider from Mitchell Parker and drove it off the top of the right-field wall for a walk-off grand slam. It was his first career grand slam and an “ultimate grand slam” — a walk-off slam while trailing by three — making him the youngest player in major league history to do it at 21 years, 233 days. The result was one of the sport’s rarest rallies: the Giants’ first win of the season when trailing after eight innings, and one of only a handful of Divisional Era victories after being down eight or more entering the eighth.

3 articles · Updated · Fox News · Jun 11

Down 9-1 in the eighth inning, San Francisco scored 10 runs over the final two frames to stun Washington 11-10 at Oracle Park.
Five runs in the eighth kept the Giants alive before Bryce Eldridge ended it in the ninth with a walk-off grand slam.
The rally became one of the Giants' most dramatic comebacks of the season, flipping what looked like a blowout into a one-run win.
A 77-year-old Giants ball boy also drew attention for a diving foul-ball stop in the eighth as the comeback began.