Jose Siri Robs Grand Slam, Then Hits His Own Next Day: Angels Outfielder’s Wild 48 Hours
Jose Siri just did something baseball almost never sees. The Angels outfielder robbed a grand slam in one game, then hit one of his own the next day.
This is the kind of stat the broadcast team has to fact-check live, and most of the time the answer is “we cannot find another example.”
Saturday night at Tropicana Field in Tampa, Siri was patrolling left field against his former team. Bases loaded, two outs, third inning. Rays infielder Taylor Walls hit a ball that looked gone off the bat. Siri tracked it the whole way, timed his jump perfectly, and stole the grand slam over the wall. The catch kept the Angels’ deficit at just 3-1 in a game they eventually lost 5-2.
It would have been a top-10 play of the year regardless of what happened next.
What happened next is what makes the story.
Sunday night at Angel Stadium against the Rockies. Same inning, bottom of the third. Same situation, bases loaded with two outs. Siri stepped up against Kyle Freeland and took a 1-0 pitch deep to left field, sending it well over the wall for a grand slam of his own.
One robbery. One blast. Less than 24 hours apart. Mirror-image scenarios.
How many times in baseball history has a player done that? Almost certainly never. The combination requires two specific things to line up across consecutive games against different opponents: a defensive opportunity with the bases loaded and a hittable pitch with the bases loaded. Both happening to the same player on back-to-back nights is the kind of thing nobody bothers to track because it just does not happen.
Siri made it happen.
The Angels lost both games anyway. The Rockies came back and beat them in a 9-8 shootout, dropping Los Angeles’ record further in a season that has not gone the way the front office wanted. Mike Trout is mortal. Anthony Rendon is fragile. The pitching staff has been inconsistent. The roster is what it is.
What Siri did, though, transcends the standings.
He has always been one of the more electric outfield athletes in baseball. The Rays signed him to a multi-year deal for a reason. The Angels acquired him this offseason expecting that defensive package and the occasional power. They did not expect this kind of week.
The trade story will also follow Siri for a while. He started his MLB career in Houston, broke out with Tampa Bay, and now finds himself in Anaheim. Robbing his old team of a grand slam in front of their home fans is the kind of moment a player carries with him forever, even if he never says it publicly. There is no version of that play where the moment is not personal.
The hit the next night is the bonus. The cosmic, what-are-the-odds, baseball-is-the-best-sport bonus.
The Angels are not winning a World Series this year. They might not even be in the wild card race come August. But for one 24-hour stretch in late May and early June, Jose Siri reminded everyone why this sport is worth paying attention to.
Robbed one. Hit one. Goodnight.
Baseball is wild. Jose Siri is wilder.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
