Hitting a walk-off home run on Opening Day would’ve been a memory to cherish regardless for the Arizona Diamondbacks’ Seth Beer, but it’s even more amazing that it came on National Beer Day (yes, that’s really the day).
Arizona trailed 2-1 with no outs and runners on second and third in the bottom of the ninth, when Beer cranked a three-run blast to right field to give the D-Backs a 4-2 walk-off win at Chase Field.
As Beer’s flyball landed over the right-field wall, Bally Sports Arizona play-by-play man Steve Berthiaume exclaimed, “IT’S NATIONAL BEER DAY!”
YOU CAN'T WRITE IT BETTER THAN THIS!
SETH BEER ON NATIONAL BEER DAY!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/gczHELZ8MM
— Bally Sports Arizona (@BALLYSPORTSAZ) April 8, 2022
That capped off a complete meltdown from the San Diego bullpen after the Padres entered the ninth leading 2-0.
Robert Suárez, 31, made his MLB debut for the Padres to try to close it out in the ninth inning. This would’ve been a spot for newly-acquired reliever Taylor Rogers, but the former Minnesota Twins closer was unavailable after being traded earlier on Thursday.
Well, Suárez proceeded to walk the first batter, walk the second batter, throw a wild pitch, and then hit the third batter.
It's Robert Suarez, making his big league debut with the Padres holding a two-run lead in the ninth. Quite a spot. Bob Melvin said pregame that Taylor Rogers would be the team's closer, but Rogers has undoubtedly had quite a day of travel.
— AJ Cassavell (@AJCassavell) April 8, 2022
Robert Suarez faced 259 batters last year in Japan, with six unintentional walks, one wild pitch and no hit batters. His first big league outing goes: BB, BB, WP, HBP.
Winning run is on base for the D-backs. Craig Stammen in.
— AJ Cassavell (@AJCassavell) April 8, 2022
Veteran reliever Craig Stammen replaced Suárez and didn’t do any better- he threw an extremely wild pitch on the first offering (allowing the runners to advance to second and third), and then gave up the three-run blast on the second pitch.
This all came after San Diego starting pitcher Yu Darvish threw six no-hit innings. With a full season ahead, Darvish exited the game after throwing 92 pitches.
