Profar powers Padres to 3-2 win
Credit: AP Photo
Jurickson Profar hit a home run and scored the game-winning run, Sean Manaea battled through six tough innings, and the San Diego Padres picked up a series win against the AL-Central leading Minnesota Twins.
It was an inauspicious start for Manaea, who walked two of the first three batters he faced. The other batter, Carlos Correa, blasted a 106-mile-per-hour line drive, but Trent Grisham was able to bring it in. Manaea fixed his control issues, striking out the next two batters of the inning to get out of trouble. The strikeouts kickstarted a streak in which Manaea retired eleven straight batters.
While the Padres’ offense did not hit the ball hard early, they did find themselves early as a result of Profar. The switch-hitting outfielder hit the ball into the Petco Porch, finding the shortest part of the ballpark. His home run, along with Jake Cronenworth’s first-inning single, were the only Padres baserunners in the first five innings.
Luis Arraez ended Manaea’s strong streak with a home run that just ended up over the right-field wall. Back-to-back singles quickly put the Twins in a position to take the lead. Manaea failed to retire the lead runner on a sacrifice bunt but struck out Byron Buxton and put Jorge Polanco away to get out of trouble. Buxton had hit a foul ball that was ruled to have just hit the foul ball netting after review. Padres manager Bob Melvin was ejected from the game after arguing the call, leaving Ryan Christenson at the helm of the team. Melvin claimed that he was just asking for clarification. The right-hander was visibly excited as he left the mound, slapping his glove.
However, Jose Miranda blasted a 413-foot home run to put the Twins ahead in the sixth, with Manaea finishing out the inning to record his 13th quality start of the season.
The Padres offense finally roared to life in the sixth, when back-to-back singles from Trent Grisham and Profar chased Dylan Bundy from the game. Former Padre Emilio Pagan entered the game to try and preserve Minnesota’s lead, but he was unsuccessful. Jake Cronenworth brought Grisham in to tie the game on a ground ball that Arraez was unable to scoop up. Luke Voit put the Padres ahead for good with a soft single that scored Profar.
The Padres bullpen was absolutely stellar, as both Nabil Crismatt and Tim Hill retired all three batters they faced. Hill recorded a pair of first-pitch outs, needing just six pitches to set down the side. Minnesota picked up just one batted ball that was over 95 miles per hour against the Padres bullpen.
As manager Bob Melvin had discussed earlier in the week, Taylor Rogers did not enter the game despite it being a save situation. After Rogers had struggled tremendously in the last month, Luis Garcia came in to pick up his first save of the year. Garcia ended the game with a three-pitch strikeout of Tim Beckham, sealing the win. After the game, Bob Melvin said, “He’s ready for anything.”, as he discussed the bullpen performance.
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It was the second time in the second half that the Padres picked up a series win over a team that was in first place in their division. Melvin discussed the fact that “We’ve done pretty well in one-run games before, so every game like this helps us get out of the funk.”.
The Padres will play five games in four days against the Rockies to close out the homestand.
Mike Clevinger will be on the mound as the Padres take on the Rockies.
Sam is a Senior in High School. He has been writing for three years, and started at EVT in June of 2021. He’s headed to Syracuse’s Newhouse School of Communications in the fall of 2023.