After benches clear early, Nats lose to Padres late (updated)

SAN DIEGO – There was underlying tension ahead of this second game between the Nationals and Padres.

After Jurickson Profar took exception to two inside pitches that weren’t really close to hitting him then walked off the Nats and directed his celebration toward the visiting dugout last night, some members of the Nationals bench waited around to see if things would escalate.

They didn’t then. But it didn’t take long for it to carry over into tonight’s game.

The Nationals ended up losing 9-7 to the Padres, but not before both benches cleared in the first inning with Keibert Ruiz and Profar getting into it.

“It was nothing crazy," Ruiz said after the game. "We were just having a conversation about what he did yesterday. But it was nothing really crazy.”

It turned into something crazy before a pitch had even been thrown to Profar in his first at-bat. As he was digging into the box, Ruiz started talking to him and patted him on the shoulder. Ruiz’s words seemed to get more intense as he gestured toward the Padres dugout and Manny Machado stepped in between them from the on-deck circle.

“Just to let him know, and he knows, he didn't do good yesterday. That was it," Ruiz said. "We don't want to hit him because that's bad for him. He's having a good season, he's having a great year. But I feel like I just got to let him know he's got to show us respect.”

While the Nationals said afterwards they weren't anticipating something like this happening, it clearly was on the minds of both teams as the benches and bullpens cleared quickly. Ruiz had to be held back by teammates and coaches, even throwing his mask and helmet down in frustration.

“Boys will be boys. Sometimes it's part of the game," manager Davey Martinez said. "Some words were said. We got out there and played baseball after that. So we got to come back and go 1-0 tomorrow.”

“All I saw was Kei and Profar having a conversation and I ran in," Jesse Winker said. "I can't speak on what they were discussing, I was in left field. But yeah, I just think they had a conversation and we all were meeting there. And we just moved on and played baseball. And that was that.”

Martinez and Padres manager Mike Shildt exchanged words in front of an umpire, though not nearly as animatedly as their players, and were eventually separated by their respective coaches.

“We tried to talk through some things and it just didn't happen," Martinez said with a laugh.

As the mob on the field dissipated, Ruiz and Profar had to be separated again before the at-bat could finally begin. Ruiz seemed to be minding his own business behind the plate, but Profar had some more words for the Nats catcher before home plate umpire Brian Webb moved them apart.

“He didn't agree," Ruiz said. "He said, 'Hey, if you want to hit me, hit me.' But I said, 'Hey, we don't want to hit you. Just letting you know what you did yesterday (wasn’t appreciated).' That was it.”

“He felt like he needed to say something," Martinez said of Ruiz standing up for his teammates. "Honestly, I was proud of him. I really was. Like I said, sometimes you carry emotions on your sleeve. Sometimes you swallow it. But I liked the fact that he stuck up for our guys.”

Then a pitch was finally thrown, and wouldn’t you know it, MacKenzie Gore’s 98 mph fastball hit Profar’s back foot. The Padres left fielder took his base, but Shildt was enraged Gore wasn’t ejected from the game and was eventually tossed by third base umpire and crew chief Adam Hamari.

With tensions at their highest points of the night, Machado stepped to the plate for his first at-bat and hit a two-run home run to left off Gore’s first-pitch 97 mph fastball, sending the announced crowd of 40,825 at Petco Park into an absolute frenzy. The Padres even made a point to have the whole team come out of the dugout to celebrate with Machado on the warning track.

“It was like, 'Uh oh,' just because that happened right after everything," Gore said of plucking Profar. "So yeah, that was not (intentional). But nothing happened, which was great. And then I made another bad pitch to give up the homer.”

After following the homer with a five-pitch walk to Jake Cronenworth, Gore needed to settle his emotions. And he did so by sitting down the next nine batters he faced.

He was even given a lead in the third, thanks to some big swings from the offense.

Nick Senzel led off with a double and Jacob Young drove him in two batters later with a single over the second baseman’s head. CJ Abrams connected for the third hit of the inning, but he was tagged out while leisurely walking back to the bag after making a small turn toward second, where Young stood.

That play must have been preconceived by the Padres because as the ball was thrown in from the outfield, first baseman Luis Arraez immediately called for it from shortstop Ha-Seong Kim to place the tag on Abrams. Although initially called safe, the ruling was changed after a Padres challenge. It was Abrams’ second baserunning blunder of the night after he was picked off at first following his single on the first pitch of the game from Padres rookie right-hander Adam Mazur.

“We just can't give away outs. We can't," Martinez said. "He's smarter than that.”

Abrams’ presence at first would have been nice because Lane Thomas followed with a triple into the right-field corner. But instead of two runs scoring to give the Nats the lead, only one scored to tie it at 2-2.

But then up stepped Winker, who has received his fair share of boos these past couple of days after a video of him getting into an argument with a Padres fan after last night’s game circulated online. And he silenced those boos with a two-run home run to right and took his celebration into the Nats dugout. A field mic on MASN broadcast caught him talking to his teammates saying, in parts, "Let's win a series. (Expletive) all that."

“I wasn't trying to make a point about anything," he said. "I was just happy a ball went over the fence. Like I said, it's an emotional game. Tensions, that whole thing happened. Manny took a great swing. When it comes to celebrating where baseball's at now, it's kind of like the lids off where you can kind of celebrate how you want. And universally in baseball, it's fine. … There’s no right or wrong.”

“I love it. I really do," Martinez said of his team's celebration in the dugout. "We celebrate amongst ourselves. We don't need to celebrate in front of other teams or people. I love the character of this team. I really do. I talk about it all the time, but these guys don't quit. They play hard. We tend to do things the right way. And I love that about them.”

Winning the series would have put the Nats ahead of the Padres in the National League Wild Card standings and into a playoff spot. Unfortunately, that wasn’t in the cards for the Nats this week.

With a 4-2 lead, Gore couldn’t put up a clean fifth inning. Arraez hit a one-out triple and Machado drew a two-out walk to put runners on the corners. Cronenworth followed with an RBI single to cut the Nats’ lead down to one and then Donovan Solano hit a sharp two-run single just past Luis García Jr. at second base to give the Padres a 5-4 lead.

That would be it for Gore on the night with his pitch count up to 94. He was charged with five hits, five runs, three walks and one strikeout, tied for the fewest strikeouts he's had in a start in his career.

“It's strange just because we kind of sat out there for a long time. So that was strange," he said of the benches clearing. "But look, we're competing. We were frustrated. But at the end of the day, we played well and then I didn't make pitches when I needed to in the fifth and that put us in a tough spot. So I thought we responded well to it and then I just didn't make pitches in the fifth inning.”

After bringing his ERA down to 2.91 at the end of May, Gore has struggled through five starts in June. He is 2-3 with a 5.81 ERA and 1.291 WHIP this month to bring his season totals to 6-7 with a 3.81 ERA and 1.400 WHIP.

Martinez tasked his bullpen to keep it a one-run game, but Profar had more to say before night’s end.

Dylan Floro allowed three straight singles to begin the sixth inning, forcing Martinez to bring in Derek Law to get out of a bases-loaded, no-outs jam. Law got a force out at home, putting him one ground ball away from escaping. But Profar hit a 94 mph cutter into the seats down the right field line for a grand slam and 9-4 Padres lead, with himself, his teammates and the crowd going into hysteria.

"Floro, he got an infield hit. They didn't hit the ball that hard off him really," Martinez said. "But I thought Law was a good guy for the top of the order up there. He got the groundout. We got the force at home. He just fell behind to Profar."

Now facing a five-run deficit, the Nats could only score three more times on Joey Meneses’ sacrifice fly and Harold Ramírez’s RBI double (his first as a National) in the eighth, and Abrams’ RBI single in the ninth. Thomas popped out to second to end the game while representing the tying run.

Although they didn’t admit it publicly, the Nats were looking for some revenge tonight. Ideally, it would have been on the scoreboard. That will have to wait until tomorrow.

“The boys were fired up," Martinez said. "You see the guys that carry that emotion, Machado for them, Winker for us. Sometimes you gotta learn how to play like that. I think we did a pretty good job. We really did. We'll get them tomorrow.”

“The excitement, the adrenaline, this ballpark," said Ruiz. "But what happens in the field, stays in the field. I don't have any problem with anybody. We just got to keep playing.”