There was light-hearted trolling, which turned into sharper chirping, which devolved into at least one baseball being fired from the stands in the direction of the primary antagonist — or protagonist — depending on your perspective. It all led to what became a lengthy delay in the seventh inning on Sunday in Game 2 of the NLDS between the Dodgers and the Padres.
The game was stopped for nearly 10 minutes in the seventh as Dodger Stadium security briefly escorted the Padres’ outfielders away from the walls, including left fielder Jurickson Profar, who found himself at the center of the acrimony that engulfed a pair of division rivals with a history of bitterness.
Twice, fans had to be reminded that they were subject to ejection for throwing objects on the field, a warning that came shortly after at least one baseball was fired toward Profar and trash was thrown in the direction of Fernando Tatis Jr.
It didn’t begin this way.
In the first inning, Mookie Betts thought his shot to left was out, as he rounded the bases in a home run trot. The Fox Sports broadcast thought it was out, as the score bug gave the Dodgers a run. Even a couple of blue-clad Dodgers fans in the left-field stands thought it was out.
But only one man was sure that it was, in fact, not a home run.
Profar jumped up and down, staring into the crowd after, with a troll job of epic proportions after he robbed Betts of a game-tying homer. The ball was in his glove the whole time. It was merely the second out of the first inning.
“That was one of my wishes. I wanted to rob a homer, and I did it in a playoff game so it was awesome!”
Jurickson Profar was all smiles describing his home run robbery to @Ken_Rosenthal 👏 pic.twitter.com/S32HfRtL6W
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) October 7, 2024
“That was one of my wishes, I want to rob a homer,” Profar told Ken Rosenthal on the Fox Sports broadcast. “And I did it in a playoff game. I had to fight with them to catch the ball. They were hitting my glove.”
Of course, Profar’s drama with the Dodgers continued even after his catch. There was chirping back and forth, and the bad blood became evident between Flaherty and Manny Machado started yelling at each other following a sixth inning strikeout of the All-Star third baseman. The jawing extended after Flaherty exited the game.
They really thought, huh? 😏 pic.twitter.com/Hn4j4371Ad
— San Diego Padres (@Padres) October 7, 2024
It’s possible this anger dates all the way back to the beginning of the season, when Los Angeles catcher Will Smith called Profar “kind of irrelevant” on April 14, following a benches clearing incident. Profar went on to be a first-time All-Star this season, and is making an impact in the playoffs.
The Padres, who lost Game 1 of the NLDS, took a one-run lead in the first inning of Game 2 on a home run by Tatis . David Peralta hit a two-run homer in the second to make it 3-0. Flaherty was chased after allowing four runs in 5 ⅓ innings.
Later, emotions were further heightened when Tatis was plunked, which prompted an exchange between Profar and Smith.
Jurickson Profar. Peak trolling.
— Dennis Lin (@dennistlin) October 7, 2024
(Photo of Jurickson Profar: Kiyoshi Mio / Imagn Images)
