Dominic Smith will never forget his Atlanta Braves debut.
The slugger became the first player ever to hit a walk-off grand slam in his team debut on Saturday — and he did it less than two weeks after his mother's death.
"I'm trying to hold back tears now," he said, per ESPN. "I feel her every day. I miss her dearly. It's not a moment I don't think about her. And like I said, I'm just so thankful because this team knows what I'm going through. So they really, you know, picked me up the last few weeks."
Smith's home run gave the Braves a 6-2 win over the Kansas City Royals. The 30-year-old journeyman only signed a minor-league deal with the Braves in February and was among the last players to make the opening-day roster.
His mother was diagnosed with cancer during spring training, he told reporters, leading him to leave the team for a little over a week during a "scare."
"This team is just so awesome," Smith said. "I'm so blessed because of the love they showed me, the support every day. They're asking about her, asking about her well-being, my well-being, and that's all they really cared about. They didn't care about baseball."
Smith was not with his mother when she died in California, per ESPN. He said he "got choked up a bunch of times" thinking about her during the aftermath of his walk-off.
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