Columbia native and Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Anthony Alford had a lot to celebrate Monday night.
The 25-year-old stepped up to the plate against the Baltimore Orioles in the bottom of the 15th inning with two outs and deposited a 2-2 changeup from Ryan Eades over the left-center field wall for his first career home run and a walk-off victory for Toronto. Alford became just the second player in major league history to hit his first homer for a walk-off. Valmy Thomas did it in 1957 for the Giants.
As he rounded the bases, Alford wore a big smile that he was trying to hide.
“(I was) all smiles,” he said to mlb.com reporter Alexis Brudnicki after the game. “I was trying to hold my smile as best I could, but it was pretty tough. It was my first-ever walk-off so it felt pretty good.”
Alford had entered the game as a pinch-runner in the ninth inning and scored the game-tying run on a single by Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to send the game to extra innings. Then in the 13th inning, he reached on an infield single and stole second base before being stranded.
The former Petal star spent most of the season in Triple-A Buffalo before being called up Sept. 3 to the big league club. The homer was Alford’s eighth career hit for the Blue Jays.
“It couldn’t happen to a better kid,” Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo said. “Everybody was so happy for him. And his first one, a walk-off, that was awesome to see. It seems like every time he came up to the plate everybody was saying, ‘Here we go. Here comes a walk-off,’ and he ended up doing it so it was great. It was great to see Anthony do that and a great party in (the clubhouse) because he deserves it.”
For the year, Alford has five hits in 21 at-bats (.238 batting average) for Toronto (64-93). In 80 games in the minor leagues, he hit .264 with a .348 on-base percentage, 30 extra-base hits, eight home runs, 38 RBI and 22 stolen bases.
The 6-foot-1, 215-pounder figures to see regular playing time during the final week of the regular season and will have an opportunity to earn a permanent role for the Blue Jays in spring training next year.
