San Diego’s All-Star outfielder played the villain Friday night, with his two-run homer off Craig Kimbrel in the 9th sealing the win for the visitors.
Jurickson Profar crushed two HRs and plenty of Orioles fans’ hearts, as the All-Star powered the Padres to a 6-4 win Friday.
Profar—the childhood teammate of former Oriole Jonathan Schoop—got his first long ball in the 6th inning to erase an Orioles lead. Entering the top of the 6th, the O’s led 2-0 and Grayson Rodriguez had shut the Padres down through the first five frames. Former All-Star Luis Arraez led off the inning by bouncing a single up the middle, bringing up the 2024 All-Star starter Profar. Rodriguez got the count to 2-2, and looked like he punched out the San Diego outfielder, only for HP umpire Sean Barber to call a close fastball a ball. Two pitches later, Rodriguez left a fastball over the plate and Profar blasted into the right-center stands to tie the game.
The homer started a nightmare inning for the Orioles as the Padres score another two runs thanks in large part to a Gunnar Henderson error and a fly ball with a 99% catch chance that Heston Kjerstad dropped in front of the wall. Trailing 4-2, the Orioles would battle back in the 8th inning. Facing left-handed flame thrower Adrian Morejon, Anthony Santander led off the inning by turning on an inside fastball and depositing it into the bullpens for a solo HR. Tony Taters 29th tater of the year saw him overtake Gunnar Henderson for the team lead and brought the Orioles within a run.
442 FEET!! pic.twitter.com/uiiTR2N1mr
— Baltimore Orioles (@Orioles) July 27, 2024
Ryan O’Hearn followed up Santander’s majestic blast by slashing a ball down the left field line, and turning and burning around first to leg out a double. Two batters later, Heston Kjerstad hit a high chopper that seemed to bounce off home plate, beating it out for an infield single and allowing O’Hearn to advance to third.
With the tying run at third, the Padres turned to closer Robert Suárez—brother of Orioles pitcher Albert Suárez—to try and preserve the lead. The younger Suárez couldn’t strand the inherited runner though, as Ryan Mountcastle inside-outed a fastball to right field for a sac fly, scoring O’Hearn and tying things at 4-4. The Orioles almost took the lead off the Padres All-Star closer, as Colton Cowser moved pinch runner Cristian Pache to third on a single into left. However, Cedric Mullins couldn’t bring Pache home, striking out on a 101mph fastball to strand the winning run at third.
The Orioles countered the Padres closer with their own closer, bringing in Craig Kimbrel to try and keep things tied in the 9th. Kimbrel struck out Ha-Seong Kim for the first out, gave up a single to No.9 hitter Luis Campusano, but then got Arraez to ground out to first for the second out. One out away from the chance to walk things off and Profar stepped to the plate. With the count at 1-1, Kimbrel threw a belt high fastball on the outside edge of the plate, which
Profar destroyed—sending the ball screaming over the center field fence for the game winning homer. After blowing the save Thursday afternoon in Miami, Kimbrel again failed to do his job Friday night in Baltimore.
The Orioles went pretty quietly in the 9th inning thanks to a dominant performance by San Diego’s Suárez. Gunnar Henderson put the best swing on the ball, scorching a 100mph fastball to second base with an exit velocity of 108mph—only for it to be a routine 4-3 groundout. Adley Rutshcman then struckout on a 101mph heater, and Santander popped up the first pitch he saw for the final out of the game.
Despite the heroics in the 8th, it was largely another frustrating day at the plate for the O’s. Jordan Westburg got them on the board early with a solo HR to lead off the 2nd inning. Baltimore would double that lead in the 4th, when a walk and a pair of defensive miscues turned into their second run of the game. The Orioles again struggled with RISP, going 1-9 with their only hit being the IF single by Kjerstad in the 8th. Rutschman also continued his prolong slump, going 0-4 with a pair of flyouts, and groundout and the 9th inning K.
When the bats are still in a funk, you need your pitchers to step up—or at least be a bit better than what the Orioles got on Friday. To call it a bad night for Grayson Rodriguez would be unfair to G-Rod, but the Padres surely made him labor through 5+ innings. After racking up eight Ks and 18 swings and misses in his last outing against the Rangers, it was clear that Rodriguez would have to succeed with a different approach against San Diego. The disciplined Padres made G-Rod work early, as he threw 23 pitches in the first while forcing a pair of flyouts and a groundout.
The ground ball was Rodriguez’ best friend for much as, stylistically, he looked more like Kyle Gibson of last year than his normal overpowering self. After giving up a leadoff single to Xander Bogaerts in the 2nd, he got Jackson Merrill to ground into a 6-4-3 double play to erase any thoughts of a rally. He would work the same magic in the 3rd, getting former All-Star Luis Arraez to ground into a 6-3 twin killing after back-to-back singles to lead off the inning. G-Rod would work a perfect inning in the 4th thanks to a pair of groundouts from Machado and Bogaerts for the final two outs.
Even when he gave up hits, then tended to be balls hit on the ground. In that 3rd inning, Ha-Seong Kim led off with an infield single that was almost a sparkling defensive play by Connor Norby. Catcher Lusi Campusano immediately followed Kim with a worm burner past Gunnar Henderson at short. For a pitcher that only normally generates very few ground balls, it seems like the Padres hardly ever got anything in the air against G-Rod.
Merrill grounded out to lead off the 5th before Rodriguez picked up his second strikeout of the evening against David Peralta. Kim lined his second single up the middle with two outs in the innings, but he was able to get Campusano to lift an easy fly ball to left to end the frame. At 85 pitches after five innings, it seemed like the flame-throwing Texan had enough gas left in the tank to take the 6th inning. After giving up the lead on the Profar homer, it seemed like the O’s tried to get one too many innings out of Rodriguez. He finished with a final line of 5+ IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 0 BB and 2 K.
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A slight positive to take away from Friday was the debut of trade acquisition Seranthony Dominguez. The hard-throwing reliever pitched the 8th inning for the O’s, working around a pair of singles to complete a scoreless frame. Thanks to a come-from-behind win by the Red Sox in Boston, the O’s lead at the top of the AL East remains two games over the Yankees. Baltimore will look to get back in the win column Saturday when Dean Kremer takes the ball against former Yankee Michael King.