Washington Nationals vs San Diego Padres Box Score on Jul 08, 2021

Trent Grisham drove home Tommy Pham with a two-out, walk-off single in the ninth inning Thursday night as the San Diego Padres defeated the visiting Washington Nationals 9-8 and gained a split of their four-game series.

Ignited by a grand slam from rookie relief pitcher Daniel Camarena off Max Scherzer, the Padres rallied from an 8-0 deficit.

Pham, who doubled home the tying run in the sixth, singled for his third hit of the game to lead off the ninth against Sam Clay (0-2). Pham advanced to third on two groundouts. After Manny Machado was intentionally walked, Grisham pulled a single through the right side.

Mark Melancon (2-1) received credit for the win after tossing a scoreless ninth.

The Nationals scored three runs in both the first and the third innings against Padres All-Star Yu Darvish. Washington added two runs in the fourth against Camarena, on Trea Turner's second homer of the game.

But the Padres scored seven runs in the bottom of the fourth off Scherzer. Camarena's grand slam was his first major league hit. San Diego tied the game in the sixth on an RBI double by Pham.

The game was billed as a pitching duel between two of the National League's top starters. However, Darvish gave up six runs on eight hits in three innings, and Scherzer allowed seven runs on five hits, a walk and two hit batters in 3 2/3 innings.

Turner put the Nationals on the board with his 16th homer of the season with one out in the first. Later in the inning, Juan Soto singled, moved to third on a double by Starlin Castro and both scored on Yan Gomes' single.

Turner and Soto opened the third with back-to-back singles. Josh Bell doubled home Turner, Soto scored on Castro's sacrifice fly, and Bell scored on Josh Harrison's two-out single.

In the fourth, Turner followed a single by Alcides Escobar with his third homer of the series to make it 8-0.

Fernando Tatis Jr. opened the Padres' seven-run fourth with his 28th homer, a drive into the second deck in left at Petco Park. Scherzer then hit Manny Machado and Eric Hosmer with pitches around a single by Grisham to load the bases with one out. Wil Myers drew a bases-loaded walk to make it 8-2 before Camarena's two-out slam.

--Field Level Media