‘I felt like this was expected’: Padres claw back as Profar walks-off Nationals for 7-6 win
Mandatory Credit: Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports
After taking three out of four games from a very good Milwaukee Brewers team, the San Diego Padres continued the home stand and began a three-game set with the Washington Nationals.
Just a few hours prior to first pitch, San Diego received unfortunate news: the Padres placed superstar OF Fernando Tatis Jr. on the 10-day injured list with a stress reaction in his right thigh bone.
In dire need of good news with a win, Padres skipper Mike Shildt gave the start to one of the hottest pitchers in baseball and the hottest in the Padres rotation, Matt Waldron, on the anniversary of his MLB debut one year ago. Over his past five starts, the right-hander has pitched to an elite 1.35 ERA and held opponents to a .164 batting average.
Waldron continued his dominance and tossed a quality start with six strong innings of two-earned run baseball. More importantly, the Padres brought the best news following the unfortunate tidings before the game with a walk-0ff win from Jurickson Profar in the 10th inning.
For Washington, manager Dave Martinez gave southpaw Patrick Corbin the nod, entering with a rough 1-7 record and 5.60 ERA. Despite his underwhelming numbers, left-handed starting pitching remains an issue to be resolved for the Padres’ offense now officially into the second half of the 2024 campaign.
With a sigh of relief, San Diego passed their first left-handed starter test of the second half and jumped on Corbin early in the second inning. With runners at the corners and one out, Ha-Seong Kim executed a perfect squeeze bunt down the third baseline for a base hit, which plated Jake Cronenworth. Then, Kyle Higashioka, who has posted a .994 OPS over his past 13 games, laced a two-run double to the opposite field to give the Padres a 3-0 lead.
Washington clawed back throughout the rest of the night. First, the Nationals answered in the top of the third inning with a ground-rule double from Joey Meneses to score CJ Abrams. Luckily for the Padres, the rule-book double did not allow Jesse Winker to score, and Waldron escaped the jam with just the one run surrendered.
In the fifth, Meneses got the best of Waldron again and brought Washington within a run on an RBI single that scored Jacob Young. Later in the seventh, off left-hander Adrián Morejón, Meneses tied the score with a knock that plated Abrams for the second time.
With the score tied 3-3, closer Robert Suarez tossed a scoreless ninth, but the Padres failed to score in the bottom of the inning. Enyel De Los Santos entered in the 10th and inherited a ghost runner on second. After recording two outs, the Nationals tagged the right-hander for three runs with a double and two-run homer to go ahead 6-3.
However, the Padres executed from the start in the bottom half of the frame. With Cronenworth on second to start the inning, Donovan Solano ripped a double to left-centerfield to the place runners at second and third; Cronenworth was not able to score as he made sure the ball did not find a glove.
Jackson Merrill plated both runs to make it a one-run game on a 101-MPH single up the middle. Then, Kim walked, and Tyler Wade dropped a sacrifice bunt to place the tying run at third and the winning run at second with one out. After David Peralta popped out in foul territory, Washington intentionally walked Luis Arráez to load the bases and test their luck with Profar, who had been 0-for-4.
After being knocked down to the ground from a 98-MPH fastball near his head, Profar smoked a base hit that one-hopped the wall in right-centerfield to give the Padres the 7-6 victory for their fourth walk-off winner in the past six home wins.
Walk-Off by the #Padres again 😂👊🏻
— Joseph Kim (@blackwings2011) June 25, 2024
Jurickson #Profar 💪🏻🥂🍻(Korean broadcast) pic.twitter.com/g940mUpgvQ
“I just locked in for that at-bat,” Profar said post-game. “When they walked Luis (Arráez) right there, I felt like this was expected.”
A San Diegan born and raised, Max Schwartzberg is a diehard Padres fan who created and hosts the YouTube channel Padres Previews, a hub where he passionately delivers Padres news, updates, reactions, and hype videos. At Northeastern, Max broadcasts and writes for baseball, basketball, and hockey. Max dreams of following in the steps of Padres broadcaster and Northeastern alumnus Don Orsillo to become a Major League Baseball announcer.