June 12, 2010: Boston’s Daniel Nava hits grand slam on first pitch he sees in major leagues

Daniel Nava celebrates with teammates after hitting a grand slam in his first major-league at-bat on June 12, 2010. (Courtesy of the Boston Red Sox)

In 2008 Daniel Nava signed with the Boston Red Sox for $1. He worked his way up in the system and got his call to the big-league club on June 11, 2010. The next day, he was in the starting lineup, playing left field and batting ninth.

During a radio interview before the 4:10 P.M. game at Fenway Park, WEEI radio broadcaster Joe Castiglione told the 27-year-old rookie of something he had learned from Chuck Tanner, who had homered in his first major-league at-bat for the Milwaukee Braves back in 1955. Castiglione told Nava, “Swing at the first pitch, because you’ll never get it back.”1

Nava’s turn to bat came in the bottom of the second inning. The visiting (and defending National League champion) Philadelphia Phillies had a 2-1 lead. They had taken a 2-0 lead in the top of the frame off Red Sox starter Scott Atchison, a right-hander given the starting assignment by Red Sox skipper Terry Francona. Atchison was 0-1 (4.50) with 62 relief appearances to his credit, mainly for Seattle in 2004 and San Francisco in 2007. Most of his playing time had been in the minors. This was his first career major-league start.2

A hit-by-pitch, a single, and a sacrifice bunt put runners on second and third with one out. Phillies catcher Brian Schneider then doubled past third base and down the line into left field, driving in two runs. Two groundouts ended any further threat. For the first time in 12 games, the Phillies scored before the team they were playing.3

Starting for Charlie Manuel’s Philadelphia club was 29-year-old Joe Blanton, an experienced right-hander with 169 starts under his belt for Oakland and Philadelphia and a record of 64-58. He had been struggling, however, up to that point in the season, with a 1-4 record and 6.07 ERA. In the first inning, he’d given up a double to second baseman Dustin Pedroia, but no more. The first batter he faced in the second was right fielder J.D. Drew, who homered to right, the ball going around the Pesky Pole and into the seats in short right field.

Three singles followed to load the bases with still nobody out: one up the middle by Adrián Beltré, a bunt single toward third by catcher Jason Varitek, and a single to reasonably shallow right by Darnell McDonald.

Daniel Nava was up next, for his first at-bat in the major leagues. His parents, Don and Becky, were in the crowd, but he didn’t know exactly where they were sitting. He stepped into the batter’s box, a switch-hitter batting left-handed. Before the call-up, he’d been batting .294 at Triple-A Pawtucket, with 8 homers and 38 RBIs.

Remembering the passed-on advice from Chuck Tanner, Nava swung at the first pitch from Blanton and drove the ball deep into the Red Sox bullpen in right-center field, where it was caught by a leaping Manny Delcarmen, right-handed reliever for Boston.4 In an instant, the score was 5-2 Red Sox, and they never looked back, ultimately winning the game 10-2. Nava was pummeled by his teammates as he returned to the dugout.5

“I killed any momentum that we were getting,” Blanton said afterward.6 He said he knew Nava was a rookie having his first at-bat and that he would probably swing at the first pitch, so he planned to throw a sinker down and away and hopefully induce a double play. “I threw it right down the middle. It didn’t sink” – a fastball right over the plate.7

After Nava’s homer, two lineouts followed, then a double by David Ortiz, and a pop fly to second base to end the inning.

“I was looking for something to drive,” Nava said after the game. “As I was rounding the bases, I think that’s when I said, ‘Oh, man, I just hit a grand slam.’”8

Nava’s dad was videotaping the at-bat from the stands behind home plate. He could tell it was a homer right away, and threw his arms up in celebration, resulting in a different final recording.9

On to the top of the third and the Phillies went down one-two-three.

Nava’s next at-bat came in the bottom of the inning. Once again, the bases were loaded. Drew had singled, Beltré popped up to second, Varitek walked, and McDonald reached safely on an infield single stopped by the shortstop ranging to his right.

Nava was on the verge of making baseball history. There had been three prior occasions in which a major-league ballplayer hit a grand slam in his first at-bat in the big leagues: once in the nineteenth century, never in the twentieth century, and three times so far in the twenty-first century:

• Bill Duggleby, for the Philadelphia Phillies on April 22, 1898.
• Jeremy Hermida, for the Florida Marlins on August 31, 2005.
• Kevin Kouzmanoff, for the Cleveland Indians on September 2, 2006.10
• Daniel Nava, for the Boston Red Sox on June 12, 2010.

But never had a player hit a grand slam in both of his first two at-bats in the majors.11 The sold-out crowd (37,061) was already keyed up from his first at-bat and attuned to the possibility. Nava received a standing ovation when he walked up to the plate.

On a 1-and-2 count, Nava struck out on a checked swing that wasn’t checked enough.

But the next two batters each singled. Shortstop Marco Scutaro sent a shot into left field, bringing home both Drew and Varitek. Pedroia singled into left, driving in McDonald. The score was 8-2, Boston, before Blanton got Ortiz to strike out after a nine-pitch at-bat.

The Red Sox scored another run in the fourth when Kevin Youkilis singled and Drew doubled.

Chad Durbin replaced Blanton to start the fifth. On Durbin’s second pitch, Nava doubled to left-center, a one-hopper off the wall. The only other run of the game came in the sixth, when a hit-by-pitch, walk, and single loaded the bases with nobody out. Another grand slam opportunity was presented, but Varitek grounded into a 6-3 double play (as Youkilis scored from third). McDonald then struck out.

Before the game was over, the Phillies had used four pitchers and the Red Sox five. The final score was 10-2, the win going to Manny Delcarmen, who had come into the game and was the pitcher of record at the end of five full innings.

Nava played the next afternoon and again went 2-for-4 against the Phillies.

Both teams remained in third place in their respective divisions at the end of the day. The Phillies reached the NLCS, losing in six games to the San Francisco Giants, who went on to the World Series against the Texas Rangers. The Red Sox didn’t play in the postseason.

But Daniel Nava enjoyed perhaps as big a thrill as a batter could hope for, a feat that could never be taken away – and quite an accomplishment for someone who had taken an improbable route to the majors after signing that $1.00 contract. The deal, in fact, turned out to be even more lavish – he would earn another $1,499 if he made it through spring training in 2008, which he most certainly did.12

Nava’s grand slam was the only home run he would hit in 2010. He had 188 plate appearances, drove in 26 runs, and hit .242 for the season. It was back to the minors for Nava in 2011, but he returned to Boston in 2012 and 2013. He played in that year’s postseason, driving in a couple of runs in the World Series and helping the Red Sox to win the World Series championship ring. Nava’s career ended after his 2017 season with the Phillies. All told, Daniel Nava played in 589 major-league games and nine in the 2013 postseason.

But Daniel Nava enjoyed perhaps as big a thrill as a batter could hope for, a feat that could never be taken away – and quite an accomplishment for someone who had taken an improbable route to the majors after signing a $1 contract.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted baseballalmanac.com, Baseball-Reference.com, and Retrosheet.org. Thanks to Matt Albertson for supplying Philadelphia Inquirer coverage. Thanks as well to Andrew Harner.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BOS/BOS201006120.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2010/B06120BOS2010.htm

A video of the full game is available on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6af-1-amY6k.

It was this author’s pleasure to have attended this game, along with SABR member Andy Strasberg, and to enjoy a few moments chatting with Nava’s parents after the postgame press conference.

Notes

1 Nate Taylor, “Nava Enjoys a Debut Loaded with Excitement,” Boston Globe, June 13, 2010: C1, C6.

2 Atchison was given the start unexpectedly. Daisuke Matsuzaka had been the intended starter, but suffered a forearm strain while he was warming up in the bullpen before the game.  Nick Cafardo, “Red Sox win, but lose Matsuzaka,” Boston Globe, June 13, 2010: C1, C6.

3 The last time they had done so was on May 29, when Roy Halladay had pitched a perfect game, which the Phillies won,1-0.

4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9BLMdRRZ-s.

5 Another video of the game, taken by a fan, offers another perspective on the home run and how it was celebrated by fans in the moment. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VxQV-20Ms0. One of those who commented on the posting of this video noted: “1. Nava tipped his cap to the pitcher to start the at-bat … then touched the Sox logo on his jersey. 2. When he went around the bases normal (not jumping for joy, etc.) the pitcher tipped his cap to him rounding 2nd, and again when he touched the plate. 3. Varitek took his cap off to him (team captain …) and tried to encourage the other runners to do the same. Total Class from all involved.”

6 Matt Gelb, “Red Sox Again Rip Phillies,” Philadelphia Inquirer, June 11, 2010: D1, D8.

7 Gelb.

8 Cafardo, “Red Sox Win, but Lose Matsuzaka.”

9 Don Nava was quoted as saying, “My eyes need Band-Aids because I’ve been crying so much. You think of all the people who said he was too small, too slow, couldn’t throw, couldn’t hit with power. I never doubted him because I looked at his heart, not his size.” Taylor, “Nava Enjoys a Debut Loaded with Excitement.”

10 For the story of the Kouzmanoff grand slam, see Andrew Harner’s Games Project account at https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/september-2-2006-kevin-kouzmanoff-blasts-first-big-league-pitch-for-grand-slam/.

11 There had been, though, a game at Dodger Stadium on April 23, 1999, when the St. Louis Cardinals’ Fernando Tatis hit two grand slams in the third inning, both off Dodgers pitcher Chan Ho Park. See Mike Huber, “Fernando Tatis hits two grand slams in one inning,” at https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/april-23-1999-fernando-tatis-hits-two-grand-slams-in-one-inning/.

12 Red Sox scout Jared Porter got credit for the signing. Peter Abraham, “Nava Still Rolling Against All Odds,” Boston Globe, June 15, 2010: C1, C4.