D-backs’ Seth Beer hits walk-off home run to beat Padres on Opening Day

The Arizona Diamondbacks are 1-0.

Designated hitter Seth Beer, in his sixth MLB game, belted a walk-off three-run home run in the ninth inning to give the D-backs a 4-2 Opening Day victory against the San Diego Padres on Thursday.

BEER! #walkoff pic.twitter.com/aD4tEfjOex

— MLB (@MLB) April 8, 2022

San Diego led 2-0 entering the ninth inning and brought in Robert Suarez to get the save in his MLB debut. Suarez walked his first two batters and hit catcher Carson Kelly with a pitch to load the bases.

Manager Bob Melvin replaced him with Craig Stammen, who came in and threw a wild pitch to put the game-tying run on third base with a 2-1 lead.

Beer smacked a breaking ball over the fence in right field to give Arizona its first Opening Day win since 2018. The 25-year-old is the second rookie in MLB history to hit a walk-off home run in his team’s season opener, per the Elias Sports Bureau.

Seth Beer walks it off for the #Dbacks with a 3-run homer.

D-backs win 4-2 on #OpeningDay pic.twitter.com/sbRHuvnqgD

— Jake Anderson (@jwa1994) April 8, 2022

Arizona won the game with only three hits on Thursday, as Padres starter Yu Darvish did not allow a knock through six innings. San Diego turned to the bullpen in the seventh, since Darvish had 92 pitches.

Right fielder Pavin Smith broke the no-hitter bid with a single in the seventh frame, but the Diamondbacks stranded two runners in the inning.

The D-backs opened the 2022 season the same way they finished the 2021 campaign. Infielder Josh VanMeter hit a walk-off home run to close out last year.

Arizona and San Diego match up for Game 2 of the opening series on Friday at 6:40 p.m. Merrill Kelly will take the hill for the D-backs at Chase Field.

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