Wednesday night was Juan Soto’s much-hyped debut with the San Diego Padres, but fellow trade deadline acquisition Brandon Drury stole the show in the first inning. An electric, packed crowd at Petco Park was treated to a huge first inning by the Padres, punctuated by Drury’s first at-bat with the team, in which he hammered a grand slam to left field. The crowd went absolutely ballistic.
The San Diego Padres made a humongous deal at Tuesday’s trade deadline, acquiring young slugger Juan Soto from the Washington Nationals for a haul of prospects. Slightly lost in the shuffle was their acquisition of third baseman/utility man Drury from the Cincinnati Reds in exchange for shortstop prospect Victor Acosta.
Drury, a career .253/.303/.434 hitter in the middle of the best season of his career in which he’s hitting for an .855 OPS with 20 home runs, wasted no time at all making a good first impression. In the first inning of Wednesday night’s game against the Colorado Rockies, on the very first pitch he saw as a Padre, Drury launched a grand slam off Chad Kuhl to give the team a 5-0 lead.
What an incredible moment.
The Padres are currently 11½ games back of the Los Angeles Dodgers, but the addition of Soto — and Drury — make them a force to be reckoned with in the National League wild-card race. They’re three games up for the second spot in the NL, and could potentially be dangerous in the playoffs.
