Christian Walker’s grand slam puts chaotic D-backs on the board vs. Mets

After hitting a home run in the bottom of the ninth Friday, Christian Walker came right back with a grand slam in his second at-bat on Saturday, getting the scoring started for the Arizona Diamondbacks in a 10-5 win over the New York Mets at Citi Field.

Jake McCarthy, who started after Lourdes Gurriel Jr. (flu-like symptoms) was scratched from the lineup late, started the chaos for Arizona with a single before stealing both second and third bases.

Kevin Newman and Randal Grichuk worked walks on a combined nine pitches, bookending strikeouts from Ketel Marte and Corbin Carroll.

With the bases full, Walker made Sean Manaea pay for leaving a slow sweeper over the middle of the plate, taking the first pitch 369 feet to left field.

C-WALK SLAM! 💪 pic.twitter.com/Esdape9cLV

— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) June 1, 2024

It was Walker’s second grand slam of his career.

Big hits have been hard to come by for Arizona, which saw no home runs hit over the six games prior to Friday. The floodgates started to open then, as the D-backs hit three home runs over the final four innings, nearly completing the comeback after an 8-4 deficit.

Eugenio Suárez hit the first of the three home runs, giving him four on the year. He went yard at least 20 times in seven of the last eight seasons.

Joc Pederson (seven) and Walker (12 following the grand slam) then went back-to-back in the bottom of the ninth before Grichuk struck out swinging to end the game.

Blaze Alexander brought more chaos on the bases in the sixth inning on Saturday when he stole second after singling to right field. Moments after brushing himself off at second, Alexander took off for third on a wild pitch. The catcher’s throw to third from the backstop sailed over the third baseman, allowing Alexander to continue home.

Prior to Friday, the D-backs scored nine runs over their previous six games. They have since scored 19 runs in two games.