When Atlanta Braves designated hitter Dominic Smith stepped into the batter’s box with the bases loaded and the game on the line Saturday night, he had someone else there alongside.
Less than two weeks after losing his mother to cancer, Smith said he felt her presence as he hit the game-winning homer in Atlanta’s 6-2 victory over the Kansas City Royals on March 28.
It marked the first time in MLB hsitory that a player hit a walk-off grand slam in his first game with a new team.
Smith, 30, had played for five different teams during his MLB career when he came to spring training as a non-roster invitee. He left the team for a little over a week at the start of camp when his mother, who was diagnosed with cancer last September, had what he called a “scare.” However, he returned and eventually won a roster spot.
“This team is just so awesome,” Smith said. “I’m so blessed because of the love they showed me, the support every day. They’re asking about her, asking about her well-being, my well-being, and that’s all they really cared about. They didn’t care about baseball.”
Smith validated his teammates’ faith in him by capping off a six-run rally in the ninth with his home run into to the right field seats off Royals closer Carlos Estevez, the major league leader in saves last season with 42.
Although Smith wasn’t with his mother when she died in California earlier this month, he said he was looking forward to the Braves’ road trip next week to Anaheim, where he will see many of his family members.
“You know, I’m trying to hold back tears now,” he said. “I feel her every day. I miss her dearly. It’s not a moment I don’t think about her. And like I said, I’m just so thankful because this team knows what I’m going through. So they really, you know, picked me up the last few weeks.”