This season, a brand-new MLB rivalry has surfaced between outfielder Jurickson Profar of the San Diego Padres and the Washington Nationals.
In the bottom of the first inning of Tuesday’s Padres vs. Nationals game at Petco Park in San Diego, there was a lot of tension. In yet another exciting game between the two clubs on Tuesday night, the San Diego Padres defeated the Washington Nationals 9–7 thanks to grand slams from Jurickson Profar and Manny Machado in the fifth and sixth innings, respectively, and after a brawl broke out between the benches. With one out in the sixth inning against Derek Law, Profar hit his fourth grand slam of the career and his second of the season, sending the Petco Park crowd into frenzy. Profar leaned forward to witness the ball as it sailed into right field’s home run porch, just inside the foul pole. He started to trot, tossed aside his bat, patted his chest and waved at the Padres dugout.
With a $1 million deal and a great year under his belt, Profar is leading the NL outfielder voting for the All-Star Game. This season, it was his eleventh home run. Profar said that his big smash was unrelated to his feelings.”I just have the bases loaded, again, and I was trying to come through for my team,” Just before Profar’s at-bat, Washington catcher Keibert Ruiz gave him a hard look and put his hand on his shoulder with one out in the first.
Then, when Ruiz moved between them, Machado, who was on deck, put a hand on his shoulder, and players and coaches from both teams rushed onto the field.
Profar responded, “Nothing, man, I don’t care about that stuff, always,” when asked to describe what had happened. Playing baseball is something I enjoy doing. That’s who I am.
Ruiz touching Profar infuriated him.
“You are able to speak but not touch. However, I’m in a precarious situation where I need to use caution if I want to avoid being punished or kicked out of the game. My team wouldn’t benefit from it.”
No punches seemed to have been thrown. After warning both teams, Nationals lefty MacKenzie Gore hit Profar with a pitch but was not removed from the game by plate umpire Brian Walsh.
Adam Hamari, the third base umpire, dismissed Padres manager Mike Shildt from the field as he entered.
The umpires didn’t believe that Gore’s pitch was deliberate, Hamari told a pool reporter, and Shildt was removed for “continuing to argue after being warned.”
The fans went crazy as Machado immediately launched a two-run home run off the first pitch he saw from Gore (6-7), who made his major league debut with the Padres in 2022. The Nationals won 7–6 on Monday night, and after Profar delivered a walk-off, two-run single in the 10th inning, it seemed as though they were being mocked. To get to Profar, the Nationals purposefully walked MLB hits leader Luis Arraez. Hunter Harvey then delivered a knockdown pitch. Before the Padres scored four runs to win it, the Nationals had scored three runs in the top of the tenth.
Profar circled first base, rushed to the team celebration, then jogged past Washington’s dugout as he went along the third base side, clapping to the crowd.
“Yesterday after that celebration they told me there were players upset,” he stated. “I was completely unaware of them. Who gives a damn. It’s not really anything that matters to me.”
When asked if Profar believed Gore’s pitch was deliberate, he responded, “I thank my on-base percentage.”
Although Shildt didn’t believe the pitch was deliberate, he wasn’t pleased with his ejection.
He exclaimed, “I got ejected across the field.” “We need to take action if both teams are warned and the guy who is in the midst of the problem is struck at 98 mph. And that was, rather obviously, ‘No we’re not.’ Upon realizing that right away, I exclaimed, “He needs to leave.” I was therefore expelled.” Tuesday night, the Nationals scored three runs in the third inning off rookie pitcher Adam Mazur (1-2) to take a 4-2 lead. Lane Thomas produced an RBI triple, Jacob Young had a run-scoring single, and Jesse Winker had a two-run home run.
Donovan Solano’s two-run single and Jake Cronenworth’s RBI single gave the Padres a 5-4 lead again in the fifth inning.
For his 20th save, Robert Suarez pitched the ninth.
After Yu Darvish started to have elbow irritation, Mazur was called up from Triple-A El Paso. In five innings, he gave up four runs and six hits while earning his first major league victory.
Gore also pitched five innings, giving up five hits and five runs. CJ Abrams walked twice in addition to collecting three hits, including an RBI single in the ninth.
