On This Date in Sports April 25, 1986: Lefferts Walks it Off
In collaboration with the Sportsecyclopedia.com
The San Diego Padres beat the San Francisco Giants 9-8 in 12 innings at Jack Murphy Stadium. The Padres win the game when reliever Craig Lefferts hits a walk-off home run. It is the final walk-off home run by a pitcher in MLB history. The Giants had taken the lead against Lefferts in the top of the innings. However, Graig Nettles tied the game with a home run against Greg Mitton. Following a groundout by Gary Templeton, Lefferts won the game with a blast to rightfield. It is the only home run of Craig Lefferts' career.
It was an early season divisional match-up with the San Francisco Giants visiting the San Diego Padres. Jim Gott made the start for the Giants, who entered the game at 10-5, while the Padres had Mark Thurond on the mound, sitting at 8-7. The Padres scored first on a sac fly by Steve Garvey after loading the bases in the first inning. The Giants answered with two runs in the second as Robby Thompson had an RBI double and scored on a hit by Jose Uribe. The Giants would stretch the lead to 3-1 with an RBI single by Chilli Davis in the third.
Terry Kennedy got the Padres back within one run with a run-scoring single in the third, while the Giants scratched out a run to make it 4-2 in the fourth. Jim Gott lost control of the strike zone in the bottom of the fourth, leading to a four-run inning that put the Padres in front 6-4. The big hit was a two-run single by Graig Nettles, greeting reliever Jeff Robinson, who had loaded the bases with a walk to Carmelo Martinez. In the sixth inning, Steve Gravey drove in a run to make it 7-4 in favor of the Padres.
The Giants would begin their comeback in the eighth inning when Carmelo Moldando hit a home run against Gene Walter. Walter started the ninth and gave up a one-out single to Bob Brenley before being relieved by Goose Gossage. Gossage, a Hall of Fame closer, would load the bases with a single by Dan Gladden and a walk to Will Clark. Chris Brown drove in a run with a single, while Jeffrey Leonard tied the game with a sac fly.
The game would go into extra innings, with Goose Gossage pitching the tenth while Craig Lefferts entered in the 11th inning. In the 12th inning, Jeffrey Leonard had a leadoff single. He advanced to second on a flyout by Chilli Davis and stole third. He would score on a two-out single by Robby Thompson to give San Francisco an 8-7 lead.
The Giants looking for the win, sent Greg Mitton to the mound for a third inning. The lead was gone quickly as Graig Nettles tied the game with a home run. Following a ground out by Gary Templeton, Craig Lefferts came to the plate and stunned everyone by hitting the ball over the rightfield wall to give the Padres a 9-8 win. It was the first walk-off home run by a pitcher since 1969 when Jim Hardin of the Orioles went deep off Kansas City Royals reliever Moe Drabowsky. With the universal DH, it is unlikely it will happen again.