Broken-Bat Slam Lifts Padres, 8-6

San Diego Padre Manager Bruce Bochy was shocked when Damian Jackson hit a broken-bat grand slam.

Jackson’s sixth-inning shot helped the Padres rally from three runs down Saturday night to defeat the Houston Astros, 8-6.

“That doesn’t happen very often. I saw Larry Walker hit one and I saw [Ryan] Klesko hit one, but not with the bat shattered like that,” Bochy said. “I was shocked. I didn’t know he had that kind of power, but he hit it in the right spot down the line.”

Jackson’s home run was only his second of the season and the 18th of his three-year major league career.

“Home runs aren’t my thing,” he said. “I concentrate on average and using the whole field. I hit that one right on the barrel. I knew I hit it good but I never dreamed it would go out. It didn’t vibrate or anything. It felt good.”

Jackson believes that the bat may have been cracked in an earlier at-bat and he didn’t notice it.

“A lot of these new bats crack from the inside out and you can’t see the crack,” he said. “I may have cracked it when I flew out in the first inning.”

The bat broke in half, with the barrel landing near third base. The grand slam barely cleared the fence down the left-field line, near the 315-foot sign in hitter-friendly Enron Park.

Losing pitcher Wade Miller (11-4) wasn’t thinking of a home run when he saw the barrel of the bat fly past him.

“I didn’t think he hit it that good when I saw the bat fly by,” he said. “That pretty much tells you about left field here, a broken-bat grand slam.”