(Updated May 24, 2022)
Aaron Miles, a 5-foot-8 infielder, lacked size, not stature, as a Cardinals contributor.
On July 20, 2008, Miles stunned the Padres with a walkoff grand slam in the ninth inning, carrying the Cardinals to a 9-5 victory at St. Louis.
The grand slam was the second of Miles’ big-league career, but his first walkoff home run at any level of play.
“That’s a feeling I never would have expected to get _ a walkoff home run,” Miles told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Cardinals manager Tony La Russa summarized Miles’ achievement in two words: “Fantasy Island.”
Unforced error
The grand slam turned despair into joy for the Cardinals.
In the eighth inning, Troy Glaus hit a three-run home run against Heath Bell, giving the Cardinals a 5-3 lead, but the Padres rallied for two runs in the top of the ninth against Jason Isringhausen and Brad Thompson, tying the score at 5-5.
Padres manager Bud Black sent Bryan Corey to pitch the bottom of the ninth and he got the leadoff batter, Jason LaRue, to ground out to third.
Corey, pitching for his fifth team in his fifth big-league season, walked the next batter, Albert Pujols, on four pitches.
Thompson, the pitcher, came up next and third-base coach Jose Oquendo met him at the plate and instructed him to bunt. Padres catcher Luke Carlin noticed Pujols stretching his lead at first base in anticipation of a Thompson bunt.
As first baseman Adrian Gonzalez moved in toward the plate to be in position to field a bunt, second baseman Edgar Gonzalez started to move toward the first-base bag,
When Thompson didn’t offer at Corey’s first pitch, Carlin snapped a throw toward first base, but the ball arrived before Edgar Gonzalez did and sailed into right field. Pujols raced to third on the two-base error.
“Luke Carlin was throwing to a bag that had no one there,” analyst Mark Grant said on the Padres’ television broadcast.
“It was just a stupid play by me to throw the ball,” Carlin told the Associated Press. “I tried to be overaggressive and unfortunately it hurt us.”
Mighty mite
With Pujols in scoring position, La Russa called on catcher Yadier Molina to bat for Thompson with the count at 1-and-0. Molina ran from the bullpen to the dugout, grabbed a bat and went to the plate.
The Padres, looking to set up a possible forceout at any base, elected to intentionally walk Molina as well as the next batter, Skip Schumaker, loading the bases with one out. Schumaker had hit into 11 double plays for the season, but the Padres decided to take their chances with Miles.
A switch-hitter, Miles stood in from the left side against Corey, a right-hander. Miles was batting .327 against right-handers for the season.
The first pitch was called a ball and Miles swung at the second delivery and fouled it off. The third pitch missed the strike zone, making the count 2-and-1.
Corey’s fourth pitch was in Miles’ wheelhouse and he swung, driving the ball over the right-field fence and into the Cardinals’ bullpen, where it was snared on the fly by joyous teammate Ryan Franklin.
After he connected, Miles dropped his bat at the plate, watched the ball soar and pumped his fist as he headed up the first-base line. Cardinals players poured out of the dugout to mob him at the plate. Video
“Of all the ways you look for Aaron Miles to maybe beat you, that’s not the first thing to come to mind,” said surprised Padres TV play-by-play broadcaster Matt Vasgersian. Boxscore
Rare feat
The home run was the third of the season for Miles. He would finish with four for the season and 19 in a nine-year career in the major leagues. His other grand slam was hit right-handed for the Rockies against Marlins left-hander Al Leiter in the fourth inning of an 8-1 Colorado victory on May 8, 2005, at Miami.
The walkoff home run by Miles gave the Cardinals their first four-game sweep of the Padres since 1990 and moved St. Louis 14 games above .500 for the season. It was the 10th walkoff grand slam all-time by a Cardinals batter and the first since Gary Bennett did it against the Cubs on Aug. 27, 2006.
Cardinals with walkoff grand slams before Miles did it were Pepper Martin (1936), Joe Cunningham (1957), Carl Taylor (1970), Joe Hague (1971), Roger Freed (1979), Darrell Porter (1984), Tommy Herr (1987), David Eckstein (2005) and Bennett (2006).
Since then, Matt Carpenter hit a walkoff grand slam on April 27, 2017, in the 11th inning to beat the Blue Jays at St. Louis, and Paul Goldschmidt hit a walkoff grand slam on May 23, 2022, also against the Blue Jays at St. Louis.
Miles hit 14 of his 19 major-league career home runs from the left side. Overall, he hit eight home runs for the Cardinals, eight for the Rockies and three for the Dodgers.
RetroSimba 
Carlin trying to be all Yadi Molina and stuff. ( =
Yes, Luke Carlin became Crash Davis instead of becoming another Yadier Molina. After that 2008 season with Padres, Carlin played in only 14 major-league games, but he bounced from the Padres to the Diamondbacks to the Pirates to the Indians to the Angels, back to the Indians again, then to the Athletics, to the Cubs, to the Tigers and, finally, back to the Indians for a third time.