Where were you for the Raimel Tapia legacy game?
It was two years ago today when he helped the Toronto Blue Jays wallop the Boston Red Sox 28-5, hitting a still hilarious inside-the-park grand slam in the top of the third inning off Austin Davis.
The Blue Jays had already built up a 6-0 lead, thanks to an RBI groundout by Bo Bichette in the first, and a two-run home run from Matt Chapman that landed in the Green Monster’s seats. In the top of the third, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. drove in two runs with a line drive single to centre field, and a Santiago Espinal single two at-bats later drove in their sixth run.
With runners on second and third already, Danny Jansen took a four-pitch walk from Nathan Eovaldi, loading them up for Tapia. Davis threw a sweeper that Tapia got all of, and the outfielder immediately thought the ball was a flyout to centre-fielder Jarren Duran.
He quickly found out that Durran didn’t see the ball in the air as it floated over his head, landing 20-feet behind him. Tapia was able to rip around the bases as Durran slowly walked towards the ball that left-fielder Alex Verdugo chased down. A rally to home plate was too little, too late, as Tapia was able to round the bases, diving into home base for the little league grand slam.
Completely fun and normal GRAND SLAM 🙌 pic.twitter.com/cAvX8pZiWN
— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) July 23, 2022
From there, with a 10-0 lead, the wheels would absolutely fall off the wagon for the Bo Sox, as the Jays would rack up a stunning 18 more runs in a 28-5 win. It marked the most runs scored in a game by the Blue Jays and one of three games in franchise history in which they scored 20 or more runs.
Tapia, who was hitting lead-off that day, would add another two RBIs with a top-of-the-fifth double, and had a career day driving in a total of six runs, something he had never done before or after in his career. He spent the full 2022 season with the Jays but would bounce between the Red Sox, Milwaukee Brewers and Tampa Bay Rays for a few cups of coffee in 2023.
He played in the Dominican Winter League for the Estrellas Orientales, slashing .275/.311/.275 across 45 plate appearances, but isn’t playing any baseball this season.
Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist. He can be followed on Twitter at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach@thenationnetwork.com.