Last Night in Baseball: Blue Jays Stun Rays on 10th-Inning Walk-Off Grand Slam

There is always baseball happening — almost too much baseball for one person to follow themselves. Don’t worry, we’re here to help you by figuring out what you missed but shouldn’t have. Here are all the best moments from last night in Major League Baseball: The Tampa Bay Rays have owned the Toronto Blue Jays this season, and with a two-run lead going into the bottom of the 10th inning, it appeared to be more of the same. Then, the improbable happened. After a pop-out to open the inning, Toronto drew back-to-back walks, loading the bases for center fielder Daulton Varsho, who smacked a line drive to the opposite field and over the left-field wall for a walk-off grand slam. The long ball was just Toronto’s sixth hit of the game and gave the Blue Jays their first win over the American League East-rival Rays this season (Toronto is 1-5 against Tampa Bay), that being a 5-3 victory. Varsho, a 2024 Gold Glover, has totaled five home runs, 13 RBIs, 1 win above replacement and two defensive runs saved in center field through 41 games, while owning a .250/.321/.403 slash line. Toronto’s other run came off a sacrifice fly from third baseman Kazuma Okamoto in the eighth, while starter Dylan Cease gave up just one run over seven innings. Speaking of slams, enter the “Big Amish.” Trailing the St. Louis Cardinals 1-0 with one out in the bottom of the fifth, Athletics first baseman Nick Kurtz came to the plate with the bases loaded and delivered, knocking a Matthew Liberatore slider just over the center-field wall. The A’s would never look back, with a seventh-inning sacrifice fly from center fielder Henry Bolte — who was making his MLB debut — and an eighth-inning solo home run from third baseman Zack Gelof adding to their lead, while starter J.T. Ginn, who sports a 3.12 ERA and 1.5 wins above replacement over seven starts/10 appearances, gave up no earned runs over six innings in an eventual 6-2 win. Both teams had 13 hits. After a slow start to the 2026 season, the “Big Amish” has been raking over the last month, with Kurtz recording five home runs, 22 RBIs and a .319/.451/.571 slash line over his last 24 games. Last season, Kurtz totaled 36 home runs, 86 RBIs, a 165 OPS+ and 5.4 wins above replacement over 117 games, while posting a .290/.383/.619 slash line, helping him earn 2025 AL Rookie of the Year honors. The Atlanta Braves and Chicago Cubs are on polar opposite runs. In defeating the Cubs, 4-1, the Braves have won four consecutive games, giving them the best record in MLB at 30-13, while the Cubs — who previously won 10 consecutive games — have now lost four in a row. As for the Wednesday night matchup, catcher Drake Baldwin drew first blood for the Braves with a leadoff home run in the bottom of the fourth, his 11th long ball of the year. Granted, Cubs second baseman Nico Hoerner leveled the score at 1-all with an RBI single in the top of the fifth. That said, Atlanta took the lead for good in the eighth when outfielder Mike Yastrzemski drove in a run on a double. Then, after shortstop Ha-Seong Kim was thrown out trying to score a second run on the aforementioned Yastrzemski double, left fielder Mauricio Dubón gave the Braves more breathing room, launching a two-run home run to left field. Raisel Iglesias proceeded to shut the door on a 4-1 victory for the Braves in the ninth; the right-handed reliever hasn’t surrendered a run over 12 ⅔ innings pitched this season. The San Diego Padres were on the verge of losing their fourth game in six tries. Then, Gavin Sheets happened. Down 1-0 to the Milwaukee Brewers, San Diego failed to get either of the first two batters on the basepath in the top of the ninth. Then, designated hitter Miguel Andújar singled and shortstop Xander Bogaerts walked. What followed? Sheets hit a go-ahead, three-run home run to right field off Brewers reliever Abner Uribe. The home run was one of Sheets’ two hits on the night and his sixth homer of the season. Sheets and Fernando Tatís Jr. accounted for two-thirds of San Diego’s hits in what was a 3-1 win (the Padres had six hits), while Mason Miller got the save in the bottom of the ninth. The only other run that was scored came on a fifth-inning RBI force-out by Brewers second baseman Brice Turang off Padres’ starter Michael King, who pitched 5 ⅔ innings. For Milwaukee, it wasted a spectacular outing from young right-hander Jacob Misiorowski, who recorded 10 strikeouts and gave up no runs and just four baserunners (four hits) over seven innings. The Padres have a half-game lead on the Los Angeles Dodgers for first place in the National League West at 25-17. That happened. It’s not a typo. Coming off a 6-2 victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday night, the New York Yankees logged just one hit and were shutout by their AL East rival on Wednesday, 7-0, dropping a three-game series and recording their fifth loss in six games. For Baltimore, right-hander Kyle Bradish pitched six shutout innings, logging seven strikeouts and giving up just four baserunners (three walks and one hit), with Keegan Akin, Dietrich Enns and Yennier Cano each pitching a scoreless inning, thereafter. As for the bats, the Orioles got an RBI double from designated hitter Coby Mayo in the bottom of the second, a sacrifice fly from catcher Adley Rutschman — who later hit a two-run home run in the fifth — and an RBI single from first baseman Pete Alonso in the third and a two-run single from second baseman Blaze Alexander in the sixth. Rutschman, a two-time All-Star, has logged six home runs, 24 RBIs, a 151 OPS+ and a .291/.339/.553 slash line through 28 games. The Yankees are averaging just 2.3 runs per game over their last six contests. To make matters worse for New York, star left-hander Max Fried left the game after three innings on Wednesday due to left elbow posterior soreness. Losers of four straight games, the Dodgers turned to Shohei Ohtani to end their slide, and he delivered. The electric right-hander tossed seven shutout innings against the San Francisco Giants, recording eight strikeouts and giving up just six baserunners (four hits and two walks). Tanner Scott and Kyle Hurt each pitched a scoreless inning after Ohtani was relieved, sealing a 4-0 Dodgers’ win. As for the offense, Los Angeles got back-to-back solo home runs to lead off the bottom of the third from infielders Santiago Espinal and Mookie Betts. Then, in the fourth, designated hitter Teoscar Hernández singled in a run and left fielder Alex Call brought home a run on a sacrifice fly. Ohtani, who didn’t hit on Wednesday, has pitched through seven innings in back-to-back starts and pitched through at least six innings in each of his seven starts this season. Ohtani owns an NL-best 0.82 ERA and 486 ERA+, an 0.82 WHIP and recorded 50 strikeouts and 1.9 wins above replacement over 44.0 innings pitched. Meanwhile, as a hitter, the four-time MVP has totaled seven home runs, 17 RBIs and five stolen bases, while owning a .240/.370/.427 slash line. New York Mets outfielder A.J. Ewing shined on Tuesday night in what was his first big-league game. On Wednesday, outfielder Carson Benge was the Mets’ rookie to shine brightest. With one out in the bottom of the 10th, Benge hit a walk-off single up the middle, giving the Mets a 3-2 victory and a series win over the Detroit Tigers. Benge, whom New York selected with the No. 19 pick in the 2024 MLB Draft, finished the night with a team-high three hits. He has totaled three home runs, 13 RBIs and seven stolen bases across 126 at-bats this season, possessing a .230/.292/.341 slash line. Benge has started at least eight games at all three outfield positions for the Mets. New York’s other two runs came on an RBI force-out from left fielder Tyrone Taylor in the second and an RBI single from shortstop Bo Bichette in the seventh. The Mets used five pitchers to get through 10 innings, highlighted by 2 ⅓ perfect innings of relief from right-hander Huascar Brazobán, who boasts a 2.14 ERA and a 187 ERA+. It had been a while since we had one of these. The Washington Nationals led the Cincinnati Reds 8-6 going into the bottom of the 10th after designated hitter Daylen Lile hit a two-run home run in the top half of the inning, which was his third homer in the last two games. Then, the thing happened. With one out in the bottom of the 10th, Reds first baseman Spencer Steer laced a ball to left field that looked like it had a chance to clear the wall for a game-tying, two-run home run. Well, one Reds fan made sure of that, as he reached over the wall to catch the ball and bring it into the seats. After review, it was determined that it was indeed fan interference, and Steer was given a double, which drove in a run. The Reds would ultimately strand both the tying and go-ahead runs, with the Nationals holding on to win 8-7 and taking the three-game series. Cincinnati actually began the game with a five-run first inning, highlighted by a grand slam from catcher Tyler Stephenson, but Washington responded with a four-run second inning, which included a two-run home run from catcher Keibert Ruiz. The Nationals tied the game at 5-all in the third on a Joey Wiemer walk, with both teams later scoring a sixth run. Washington is now in second place in the NL East at 21-22. The losing streak to the Seattle Mariners ends at nine for the Houston Astros. Yes, in fact, Houston entered Wednesday 0-6 against Seattle this season and having lost nine straight games to its AL West foe dating back to last season. Ironically, it took 10 innings for the Astros to stop their losing streak to the Mariners from reaching 10 games, with outfielder Zach Cole — who had a game-high three hits — hitting a walk-off single in the bottom of the 10th. The 4-3 win snapped a four-game losing streak for Houston, which got its other three runs on a solo home run from Christian Walker — which was his 10th of the year — and an RBI single from second baseman Jose Altuve in the sixth and a sacrifice fly from Altuve in the eighth. As for the hero of the game, Cole has only appeared in eight games for the Astros this season, but he’s batting .304 with two home runs and six RBIs over the 24 plate appearances that he has received. Hang with us here. The Texas Rangers took a 3-2 lead over the Arizona Diamondbacks into the top of the ninth and sent Jacob Latz to the mound to close out the game. That did not go as planned. The first four batters all reached base, with right fielder Corbin Carroll doubling, shortstop Geraldo Perdomo drawing a walk, third baseman Nolan Arenado hitting a game-tying, RBI double and first baseman Ildemaro Vargas bringing in two runs on a single. Cal Quantrill relieved Latz, who didn’t get an out, and got the Rangers through the inning without giving up another run after the D-backs scored three. But wait, there’s more. Two of the first three batters failed to reach base in the bottom of the ninth for the Rangers, but then their bats came to life. Second baseman Ezequiel Durán hit an RBI double, which left fielder Alejandro Osuna followed with a walk. First baseman Jake Burger then hit a game-tying, RBI single, which was followed by catcher Danny Jansen hitting a walk-off double down the left-field line, giving Texas a dramatic, 6-5 win. MLB’s 15-game Wednesday slate saw four games go to extra innings and four games end with a walk off.