The 2nd grand slam of the season goes to Michael Conforto. The Michael Conforto grand slam gave the San Francisco Giants a commanding 9-1 lead in the top of the 8th inning against the San Diego Padres. The Giants would hang onto their lead, albeit at a much slimmer margin, defeating the Padres 9-6.
The Michael Conforto Grand Slam Situation
The oft-injured outfielder has seemingly been able to contribute to the Giants, especially after signing a two-year $36 million contract before last season. Last season, he socked 15 homers and has started the 2024 season off strong.
As we mentioned, the Michael Conforto grand slam came in the 8th inning off of Tom Cosgrove. After getting Nick Ahmed on strikes, Cosgrove fell apart. He allowed a homer to newcomer Jung Hoo Lee, and the trouble didn’t stop there.
이정후 개인 첫 홈런
— SFGiants (@SFGiants) March 31, 2024
JUNG HOO LEE'S FIRST MLB HOME RUN‼️ pic.twitter.com/BxW2s5Vb9K
Jorge Soler hit a single, Austin Slater took a walk, and Matt Chapman hit a screamer that Eguy Rosario deflected, but he could not make a play for an out. That gave Wilmer Flores his own opportunity at a grand slam, but he singled in a run to make it 5-1 and reload the bases for the former New York Met.
In what turned out to be a nine-pitch at-bat, Conforto had to battle for this one. He went down 0-2 on two swinging strikes and would eventually load the count. He fouled off a sinker and a sweeper but then found an 88 MPH sinker that was up and in the zone he deposited over the right field wall.
Michael Conforto busts this game open with a SLAM!
— MLB (@MLB) March 31, 2024
(MLB x @DairyQueen) pic.twitter.com/KNyOLVMUK1
The Grand Slam by the Numbers
Tom Cosgrove put an 88 MPH sinker up, and in that, you wouldn’t expect someone to pull out of the park, but the Michael Conforto grand slam shows that almost any pitch can be turned into a home run. He sent the ball out of the park at 105.1 MPH with a launch angle of 23 degrees. The ball would travel 380 feet.
The homer wasn’t even the hardest-hit ball of the evening. In terms of exit velocity, Matt Chapman and Tom Murphy would come in ahead of the Michael Conforto grand slam.
This grand slam gave the San Francisco Giants the lead, but their bullpen coughed up 5 runs in the 9th, bringing the Padres back to within 3 before the game ended, securing the Giants’ win.
The Giants did quite a bit of revamping of their roster this offseason by signing Blake Snell, Matt Chapman, and a few other new faces. While they aren’t the favorites for the NL West, they should make a good showing for the Wild Card, especially if they can continue to get offensive performances like this throughout the season. They’ll need to see more consistency than just this one Michael Conforto grand slam, especially since they were bottom-third in runs as an offense in 2023.
They’re 2-1 to start the season, and you can envision a scenario where they snag a Wild Card slot. The NL Central is a weaker division, and there are no teams named the Braves or Phillies in the NL East.
Main Image Credit
