Jurickson Profar clouted a sixth-inning grand slam Tuesday night and the San Diego Padres beat the visiting Washington Nationals 9-7.
Profar’s 11th homer of the year, a line drive that hooked just inside the right field foul pole, enabled San Diego to turn a one-run game into a 9-4 lead.
Adam Mazur (1-2) picked up his first major league win, allowing six hits and four runs over five innings with a walk and no strikeouts. MacKenzie Gore (6-7) absorbed the loss, yielding five runs on five hits and three walks in five innings while fanning one.
Profar, whose two-run single in the bottom of the 10th inning Monday night gave the Padres a 7-6 win over Washington, was in the middle of a wild bottom of the first inning Tuesday. Before his at-bat, the benches cleared after Washington catcher Keibert Ruiz confronted him at the plate, upset over his postgame celebration Monday.
When the game resumed, Gore drilled Profar in the leg with a 98 mph fastball. Crew chief Adam Hamari opted not to act on warnings that were issued, and San Diego manager Mike Shildt was ejected for arguing. On the next pitch, Manny Machado hit a two-run homer to left, his eighth long ball of the year.
That lead lasted until the Nationals tallied four runs in the third inning. Jacob Young delivered an RBI single, Lane Thomas tied it with a two-out triple and Jesse Winker cracked a two-run homer to right.
Gore carried the 4-2 lead to the fifth but couldn’t close out the inning as the Padres took the lead for good with three two-out runs. Jake Cronenworth cashed in Luis Arraez’s triple with an RBI single, and Donovan Solano followed with a two-run single that squirted off the glove of second baseman Luis Garcia Jr. for a 5-4 edge.
Following Profar’s slam, Washington tallied twice in the eighth, via Joey Meneses’ sacrifice fly and an RBI double from Harold Ramirez.
Robert Suarez pitched the ninth to lock down his 20th save despite allowing a two-out RBI single to CJ Abrams.
–Field Level Media