Rocchio's Historic Night Lifts Guardians to Comeback Win

CLEVELAND — Brayan Rocchio became the sixth player in MLB history to hit a grand slam and a walk-off home run in the same game on Friday, leading the Cleveland Guardians to a 7-6 win over the Detroit Tigers. He summed up his accomplishment in one word: "Impressive."

Rocchio homered leading off the ninth inning after connecting on a tying grand slam in the fourth, rallying Cleveland to a win in the first game of a split doubleheader. The Guardians scored the final six runs of the game.

A Rare Feat

The 25-year-old Venezuelan joined George Kelly of the New York Giants (June 14, 1924); Hank Greenberg of Detroit (Aug. 19, 1938); Minnie Minoso of the Chicago White Sox (April 19, 1960); Otto Velez of the Toronto Blue Jays (May 4, 1980); and Jack Clark of the Boston Red Sox (July 31, 1991), according to the Associated Press. Kelly, Greenberg and Minoso are Hall of Famers.

Rocchio is in his fourth season, all with the Guardians, who are battling for their third consecutive postseason berth. He is batting .247 with 12 homers and 59 RBIs in 134 games.

As if the feat wasn't impressive enough, Rocchio accomplished it by homering from both sides of the plate. His grand slam to right field off Keider Montero came batting left-handed, while his walk-off homer to left against Drew Sommers came as a righty. It was the 20th time in franchise history that a player has homered from both sides of the plate in the same game, according to cleveland.com.

Game Recap

The Tigers took a 4-0 lead against Logan Allen in the first inning. The Guardians scored one in the first on Jo Adell's sacrifice fly following a double by Chase DeLauter and an infield single by Jose Ramirez, according to cleveland.com. Spencer Torkelson hit a homer in the third for a 6-1 lead.

In the fourth, Nathaniel Lowe singled, Angel Genao doubled, Travis Bazzana singled, and Patrick Bailey walked before Rocchio's grand slam tied the score at 6-6, as reported by cleveland.com. It was the sixth grand slam by a Guardians player this season.

Rocchio's slam traveled 366 feet, while his game-ending shot traveled 405 feet.

Reactions

"What a cool day for him," Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt said. "Every season has a different story, but he's been really consistent with his work and with his effort all along."

"First time in my life, yeah," Rocchio said, smiling. "I've never done that before."

The Guardians moved to within 2½ games of first-place Chicago in the American League Central. They also maintained a one-game lead over Texas and Toronto for the third and final wild card spot.

"Everything that we do is for the team, to help the team make the playoffs," said Rocchio. "We play from the first out to the last out."

"I haven't had a very second half," Rocchio added. "But I've been working hard and believing in the process. That is a very big moment for me."