Padres’ Jurickson Profar hits clutch, bases-clearing double vs. Dodgers after being called ‘irrelevant’

On Saturday night, San Diego Padres outfielder Jurickson Profar caused the benches to clear during a game against the Los Angeles Dodgers when he took exception to a high-and-tight pitch from Gavin Stone. (Stone, for his part, was in the midst of a perfect-game bid and was decidedly not trying to ruin that by hitting Profar with a pitch.) In the aftermath, Dodgers catcher Will Smith denied that Stone would throw at Profar, saying in part, “he’s kind of irrelevant.”

Profar, to his credit, did an in-game interview during Sunday night’s game during which he admitted he was mistaken and that Stone was not trying to plunk him. Later, in the seventh inning, he got some semblance of revenge for being called “irrelevant” by becoming very, very relevant to the final score (box score). That’s because Profar hit a bases-loaded double that turned a 3-3 tie into a 6-3 Padres advantage. The Padres would win by that margin.

Here’s said double in moving picture form:

Profar, 31, is off to a fantastic start with the Padres. He entered Sunday’s contest batting .321/.419/.528 (165 OPS+) with two home runs and 10 runs batted in over his first 17 games. Profar, of course, is in his third stint with the Padres: he played with the club from 2020-23, then returned to San Diego last August after being released by the Colorado Rockies. Profar signed another one-year pact with the Padres in February.

The Padres’ victory on Sunday night gave them the series win against the Dodgers. They’re now 3-2 against Los Angeles on the year, including a season-opening split in Seoul, South Korea. The two sides will meet again in San Diego come May 10.