With the Boston Red Sox outfield decimated by injury, General Manager Theo Epstein and Manager Terry Francona looked to the Sox farm system for some short-term help this weekend.
Ready when opportunity knocked, OF Daniel Nava has hit .294 with an .856 OPS for the 2010 Pawtucket Red Sox, and on Saturday those numbers earned him a call to The Show.
After J.D. Drew hooked a homer off Joe Blanton around the Pesky Pole to lead off the bottom of the second inning, the scalding-hot Adrian Beltre followed it up with a base hit to right.
Jason Varitek then surprised everyone, especially a deeply situated Greg Dobbs at third base, by bunting for a base hit, and fan-favorite Darnell McDonald kept the line moving dumping a single in front of RF Jayson Werth.
With the bases loaded and nobody out, the switch-hitting Nava stepped into the left side of the batters box, took a hard practice swing, dug in, measured his bat, and promptly cranked the first pitch he saw into the Red Sox bullpen for a grand slam.
First game, first plate appearance, first at bat, first pitch, first swing, first hit, first home run, first grand slam.
Nava joins 105 batters in the history of the game who have homered in their first at bat and 24 who have done so on the first pitch.
More than that, Nava joins Kevin Kouzmanoff as the only other player in the history of baseball to hit a grand slam on the first pitch of his first at bat.
Ironically, teammate Jeremy Hermida (2005) and Philadelphia player Bill Duggleby (1898) are the only other players to ever hit a grand slam in their first at bat, though not on the first pitch.
Welcome to Fenway, Daniel.
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