Incident during bench clearing between Padres and Nationals is the highlight of Jurickson Profar's rogue tour

Inexplicably, San Diego Padres star Jurickson Profar has been the target of opposing teams’ ire this year. The Dodgers’ Will Smith called him “irrelevant” and LA promptly regretted it. Profar also seems to thrive on being underestimated, and on Monday made the Nationals pay for their decision to intentionally put Luis Arráez on the field ahead of him with a walk-off hit.

However, it seems the Nationals did not take kindly to Profar’s heroics and the celebration that followed. Washington catcher Keibert Ruiz thought it would be a good idea to confront Profar about the celebration of his walk-off in the first inning on Tuesday and put his hands on the Padres bat. Both benches were cleared and some unkind words were exchanged. Former Padres junior Mackenzie Gore hit Profar with the next pitch after the commotion and Mike Shildt was ejected.

At this point, it’s ridiculous how opposing teams deal with Profar’s dominance. If they don’t like the fact that he motivates himself by disrespecting him and celebrating big hits, then get him out and stop whining about it… and definitely Don’t let the situation escalate like Ruiz did.

Profar said after the game, “I took offense to being touched on the shoulder. You can talk, but you can’t touch.” Profar had every right to be upset, and should be even more upset to be hit by a pitch, because the Nationals were acting like giant babies.

In the first inning, the benches between the Nationals and the Padres cleared after verbal altercations broke out between Manny Machado, Jurickson Profar and Keibert Ruiz.

Profar was then hit by the next pitch and Mike Shildt was thrown out pic.twitter.com/rfWzV2UKXQ

— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) 26 June 2024

Still, it should never have come to this. Ruiz was clearly the one who started the whole incident through his contact with Profar, and there should have been warnings. That Gore was able to hit Profar immediately with a 98 mph fastball (albeit one that was really low and inside) without being thrown out of the game should not have happened, and Shildt got his money’s worth when he argued this when He was thrown out instead. This wasn’t a few innings later for an errant fastball. This was the very next pitch after the benches were cleared.

Fortunately, Profar and the Padres had the last laugh. Not only did the Padres beat Washington 9-7, but the difference in the game was a grand slam by—you guessed it—Profar in the sixth inning that allowed San Diego to survive the Nationals’ late comeback.

Sometimes the baseball gods are truly fair.