The house run music began blaring by way of the Dodger Stadium audio system. Mookie Betts started rounding the bases and pointing towards the bullpen.
Similar to the earlier night time, it appeared the Dodgers had erased an early deficit on the again of considered one of their celebrity gamers.
Solely then, nevertheless, did the 54,119 folks at Chavez Ravine understand that Jurickson Profar had made a spectacular, tone-setting play as a substitute.
If Shohei Ohtani’s score-tying homer in Recreation 1 of the Nationwide League Division Collection on Saturday night time energized the Dodgers in a comeback victory, then Profar’s first-inning theft of Betts in Recreation 2 did the precise reverse — irritating the Dodgers, and what later turned an unruly crowd, in an emotionally charged 10-2 San Diego Padres win that evened the NLDS at one recreation a bit.
“We knew going into this series there would be a lot of emotions,” supervisor Dave Roberts mentioned. “They just played a better baseball game than we did tonight.”
Certainly, in what turned a heated bout that included a number of jawing matches between the groups and a 10-minute delay within the seventh inning after followers threw objects towards Padres gamers on the sphere, Profar swung the early momentum together with his dwelling run theft within the backside of the primary.
Initially, it appeared Betts had ended an 0 for 19 droop within the postseason with a deep fly ball to the brief fence in left. Profar tracked the drive to the warning observe, and leaned right into a crowd of opposing followers and outstretched arms to try to catch it. Nevertheless, it appeared at first that the left-fielder got here up empty, bunny-hopping from the barrier as Betts started his dwelling run trot.
Turned out, Profar was simply taunting the Dodger followers he’d snatched the ball away from, revealing a number of seconds later it was securely in his mitt.
“He caught it,” Betts mentioned tersely. “He made a nice play.”
“Kept the momentum on our side,” Padres supervisor Mike Shildt added. “And we just took it from there.”
Already trailing 1-0 at that time on Fernando Tatis Jr.’s dwelling run within the prime of the primary, the Dodgers watched their deficit rapidly develop within the second, when ex-Dodgers outfielder David Peralta took beginning pitcher Jack Flaherty deep for a two-run shot to heart that made it 3-0.
The Dodgers loaded the bases with no outs within the backside of the inning, however mustered just one run after Gavin Lux hit a sacrifice fly and Will Smith was doubled off at first base on a pointy lineout from teammate Tommy Edman.
The Dodgers wouldn’t rating once more till the ninth inning, by which level the Padres lead had grown to 9 runs.
“[Profar’s catch] was a momentum-changer,” Roberts mentioned. “But the Tommy Edman ball that ended up being a double-play ball, I thought that was more deflating.”
The Dodgers have been dealt one other blow within the sixth inning, when first baseman Freddie Freeman left the sport with what the staff described as “discomfort” in his already sprained proper ankle.
Roberts didn’t have an replace on Freeman’s standing postgame, saying solely that “I got word in the middle of the game that his ankle was really bothering him.”
Freddie Freeman walks again to the dugout after placing out within the first inning Sunday.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Occasions)
Freeman’s possibilities of taking part in in Recreation 3 are unclear, with the staff ready to see how he feels throughout Monday’s off-day exercise first.
“It’s not ideal,” Roberts mentioned. “But I think this is what we’ll have to be dealing with for the duration [of the playoffs].”
In the meantime, Profar’s first-inning antics with the followers served as a precursor to the emotional fireworks that got here later within the recreation.
There was a fourth-inning interplay between Tatis and the whole thing of the right-field pavilion, with the Padres star responding to boos from the bleachers with a smile and a dance after robbing a line drive from Freeman with a leaping catch.
Then, issues took a extra ominous flip earlier than the underside of the seventh.
Because the Padres took the sphere after the seventh-inning stretch, Profar appeared to level out one fan down the left area line to an umpire and stadium safety official. When Profar began to wave goodbye to the spectator, a whole lot of different Dodger followers within the space rapidly turned hostile.
Twice, balls have been launched from the group in Profar’s course. Then, extra particles was showered close to Tatis over in proper area, inflicting an almost 10-minute delay as extra safety officers encircled the diamond.
Roberts mentioned he didn’t see the “specifics” of the incident, however declared, “that’s something that should never happen.”
Tatis’ response to the sequence?
“Dodger fans, they were just not happy,” he mentioned.
Within the sixth inning, tempers additionally briefly flared between the groups themselves.
Profar jawed with Smith at dwelling plate after Tatis was hit by a pitch from Flaherty the pitch prior. Moments later, Flaherty concluded his 5 ⅓ inning, four-run begin by placing out Manny Machado and shouting expletives in his course, a forwards and backwards that continued the following half-inning with Machado at third base and Flaherty within the dugout.
Dodgers pitcher Jack Flaherty walks off the sphere throughout Sunday’s loss to the Padres.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Occasions)
“I was fired up after getting Manny out,” Flaherty mentioned. “It’s a big spot in the playoffs.”
All of it, nevertheless, did little to alter the end result of the sport.
The Padres pulled away with a flurry of late dwelling runs towards the Dodgers bullpen (San Diego hit six on the night time, probably the most the Dodgers have ever yielded in a playoff recreation).
The Dodgers, in the meantime, by no means received something going towards Padres starter Yu Darvish, who gave up solely three hits and two walks in a seven-inning, one-run gem.
As a substitute of capitalizing on their Recreation 1 win, the Dodgers let the Padres get proper again within the collection. And now, because the setting shifts to San Diego, they’ll should grapple with the emotional shockwaves of Sunday’s recreation, as properly.
“What I got out of it was a bunch of dudes that showed up in front of a big, hostile crowd with stuff being thrown at them and said, ‘We’re going to talk with our play,’” Shildt mentioned of his Padres squad. “We’re not going to back down … and we’re going to take care of business.”
