SAN DIEGO — Manny Machado drilled a ball into the second deck in left field. After Taylor Rogers wasted seven one-hit innings from Joe Musgrove, Jorge Alfaro walked off a 2-1 Padres win with a bases-loaded drive into the left-center alley.
Yet none of that, not even a dramatic win over the San Francisco Giants to avoid a three-game skid, meant quite as much Thursday as Jurickson Profar pumping his fist for a sellout crowd of 42,656 as he was carted off the field in the top of the fifth.
Several moments earlier, a collective gasp overtook Petco Park as Profar went to the ground as he attempted to walk off the field under his own power after taking CJ Abrams’ left knee to the jaw in shallow left field. The two collided as the Padres shortstop tracked a pop-up off the bat of the Giants’ Tommy La Stella.
Profar’s head snapped back as his jaw caught Abrams’ knee flush. Abrams was relatively quick to get to his feet, but Profar rolled around on the grass as trainers headed to the field. He was eventually sitting upright when it appeared as if he told the trainers he was OK. After standing, Profar began walking toward the Padres’ dugout when he collapsed at the edge of the dirt.
From there, trainers positioned Profar on his back as team doctors joined the trainers on the field.
Profar did not appear to lose consciousness. All eight of his on-field teammates — including Musgrove, who had been attempting to stay warm with catcher Austin Nola when Profar collapsed — huddled around their left fielder as he was stabilized on a stretcher and eventually carted off the field and transported to UC San Diego Health for further evaluation.
Although Rogers blew Musgrove’s 1-0 lead in the ninth, Nabil Crismatt stranded the Giants’ “ghost” runner in the 10th and Alfaro played the part of the hero once again.
The inning began with left-hander Jarlin Garcia intentionally walking Nola. Trent Grisham then loaded the bases with a bunt that Garcia fielded but threw late to first before Alfaro pinch-hit for Abrams and drilled Garcia’s second pitch to left-center for a long, game-winning single.
Musgrove did not allow his first hit until Lamonte Wade Jr. doubled off the wall in left-center to lead off the sixth. Wilmer Flores extended the threat with a one-out walk, but a fielder’s choice and a strikeout of Mike Yastrzemski ended the inning.
Musgrove followed with a scoreless seventh before handing a 1-0 game to the bullpen. He allowed just the one hit, struck out six and worked around four walks and a hit batter while throwing 64 of his 95 pitches for strikes. It was Musgrove’s fourth career start throwing at least seven innings with one or fewer hits allowed and his second this year.
Luis Garcia struck out two in a scoreless eighth, but Rogers hit the leadoff batter in the ninth, Austin Slater promptly swiped second base and scored on Brandon Crawford’s two-out single to right, tying the game.
Giants starter Logan Webb was nearly as good as Musgrove to start Thursday’s contest, allowing only one run on Machado’s 421-foot homer into the second deck in left field in the fourth.
It was Machado’s first homer since June 18, the day before he sustained his left ankle injury. Machado also hit a ball 107 mph to center field in the first inning only to watch it die at the warning track.
His fourth-inning drive, on a 0-2 change-up, left the bat at 108 mph on a 27-degree angle, 7 degrees better than his first-inning swing.
Before that, Machado was 3-for-20 with two doubles and 10 strikeouts in seven games since returning from his ankle injury.
