NoVa native walks off Nats with grand slam to complete stunning SF comeback

The Washington Nationals, with a 9-1 lead going into the bottom of the eighth, were six outs away from a three-game sweep in San Francisco.

Bryce Eldridge, with a walk-off grand slam, sent the Nats to the airport on Wednesday with a stunning 11-10 loss.

It was the fourth homer of the season for Eldridge, who spent parts of two seasons in the Giants farm system with the Double-A Richmond Flying Squirrels – hitting eight homers in 180 plate appearances across the 2024 and 2025 seasons.

Eldridge, 21, is a native of Fairfax who played at James Madison High School, and was the 2023 Gatorade Player of the Year in Virginia.

He grew up a Nats fan; his favorite player as a kid was Bryce Harper.

San Francisco took him with the 16th pick in the first round of the 2023 MLB Draft.

No, he wasn’t prevented from matriculating at UVA Baseball as a result; Eldridge had committed to play college ball at Alabama.

This game had no business being close enough to give the local kid a chance to be the hero.

Washington (35-34, 10.5 GB, NL East) got a solid outing from Foster Griffin – six innings, one run on six hits, five Ks, no walks, no-decision, unfortunately.

Up 9-1 after scoring four in the sixth and three in the seventh to break open a tight one, the bullpen, running on fumes, with an off-day on Thursday as the team returns to the East Coast, turned to Paxton Schultz to just get three outs in the eighth.

Which he did, but not until he’d allowed two homers, walked three, as the Giants (28-41, 16 GB, NL West) scored five times to get back to 9-6.

Curtis Mead led off the ninth for Washington with his 10th homer to get the lead to 10-6, which felt better.

Neither Gus Varland nor Mitchell Parker was able to record an out in the bottom of the ninth.

This is where not having a bullpen constructed to be a part of a winning team comes back to bite you.

The Nats won four of six on their West Coast road trip, but, should have been five of six.

They return home to start a six-game homestand on Friday, with three against Seattle (36-32, first place, AL West) and three against Kansas City (28-39, 7.5 GB, AL Central).