In part 2 of my countdown of my 9 favorite MLB games that I have attended I will tell you about two walk-off games that happened in two different stadiums in two different states that had the same score that went extra innings. That’s a lot in common.
GAME #6 July 11, 1996 at The Kingdom Angels 4 vs. Mariners 5 – 12 Innings
This was the 1st game I ever attended at The Kingdom and I only went to 2 games there. In 1996 Alex Rodriguez was a rookie and in this game he went 3-6 with 3 RBI’s and his 18th HR of the year. Mark Langston started for the Angels and Sterling Hitchcock started for the Mariners.
Mariners were winning 4-3 in the 9th when Mike Jackson came in to get the save and blew it. In the bottom of the 12th the bases were loaded with 1 out and big bad Doug Strange strolled to the plate and delivered nothing because Paul Sorrento scored on a walk-off wild pitch from Mike Holtz. This was probably the 1st walk off game I was ever able to see.
Fun Fact about this game: Darren Bragg pinch hit in this game and only had a few more at bats with the Mariners because 19 days later on July 30 he was traded to the Red Soxs for Jamie Moyer. I would say that trade worked out for the M’s.
GAME #5 June 16, 2009 at Dodger Stadium A’s 4 vs. Dodgers 5 – 10 Innings
This was the 1st Dodger game I went to that they won since I moved to Washington, so it had been 10+ years since I saw a Dodgers win at Dodger Stadium. Clayton Kershaw started for the Dodgers, 2009 was his 1st full season. Jason Giambi played 1st for the A’s and hit his 9th HR of the year. This was Giambi’s 2nd go around with the A’s after playing with the Yankees for 7 seasons.
We sat in the bleachers for this game and in my opinion it’s the best place to sit at Dodger Stadium. Especially when you get to see a walk off from Matt Kemp in the 10th inning. That place went nuts when Kemp hit that line drive into right field. There were 41,169 in attendance and we all watched the Dodgers improve to 43-22 on the season.
What made this game more interesting for me was the fact that earlier in the year my family and I went to Spring Training. I was able to get Kershaw and Kemp’s autograph there and at this game Kershaw started and pitched 5 2/3 innings with 8 K’s and Kemp had 3 hits including the game winning double. So that was a bonus for me.
Fun Fact about this game: Andrew Bailey got the blown save in this game. After that he rolled off 27 consecutive save opportunities. He ended up being an All-Star in 2009 and 2010. He was 2009 AL Rookie of the Year beating out Rangers Elvis Andrus.
You can check out Kelly’s Favorite Games Attended #’s 7, 8, and 9
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