In the bottom of the ninth inning, Aaron Miles played unlikely hero as he hit a walk-off grand slam to help his St. Louis Cardinals defeat the San Diego Padres.

“That’s a feeling I wasn’t sure I was going to get to experience, that walk-off homer,” Miles said. “I’ve never done it before, not in the minor leagues or on any field. That’s a great feeling.”

Leading up to the 9th, the Cardinals and the Padres were tied at five. The Padres received home runs in the 1st and 5th innings from left fielder Scott Hairston and pitcher Cha Seung Baek. In the 8th inning, Troy Glaus hit a three run home run to bring the Red Birds right back in the ballgame. After the game, Glaus attributd his team’s success to their grittiness.

“It’s a gritty group,” said Troy Glaus. “We’ve got a lot of guys trying to perform for more playing time, things like that. Everybody’s trying to give their absolute best when they’re on the field, and I think the result of that is they play a hard nine innings—or 10 innings, or whatever it takes.”

In this loss, the 6th consecutive for San Diego, the bullpen allowed seven runs in two innings. Heath Bell, who allowed three earned runs in his only inning of work, assumed responsibility for his team’s loss on Sunday.

“If I had thrown my pitches, we would have been winning and [closer] Trevor [Hoffman] would have been in there,” Bell said. “The guys played great. I screwed up, but the guys rallied around me. If I hadn’t messed up, we wouldn’t have lost.”