Jurickson Profar sets the tone for Padres in Game 2 win over Dodgers

Home run music played over the speakers at Dodger Stadium. Mookie Betts began circling the bases and pointing toward the bullpen.

Just like the night before, it appeared the Dodgers had erased an early deficit thanks to one of their superstar players.

But only then did the 54,119 spectators in Chávez Gorge realize that Jurickson Profar had played a spectacular game instead.

If Shohei Ohtani's tying home run in Game 1 of the National League Division Series last Saturday night gave the Dodgers a comeback victory, then Profar's first-inning robbery of Betts in Game 2 did the exact opposite – frustrating the Dodgers and what later became a fractious one crowd, which led to a 10-2 victory for the San Diego Padres on the night of the series.

Games 3 and 4 will take place on Tuesday and Wednesday nights this week in San Diego. And now that it's a best-of-three showdown, the Dodgers will have to do something they've only managed once in the regular season: win at Petco Park or watch another one in the playoffs victorious season ends.

Profar's home run robbery might not have won the game for the Padres. But it set the first tone in the heated Game 2 battle.

Looking for his first postseason hit since Game 3 of the 2022 NLDS – a stretch of 19 hitless at-bats starting Sunday – Betts thought he had done it with a fly ball deep down the left field line, one that Fernando Tatis initially agreed to Jr.'s solo attack early in the first inning seemed to answer.

Profar, the San Diego left fielder, ran to the warning track, leaned into the crowd and fought for the ball amid a sea of ​​opposing fans and outstretched arms. At first it didn't seem like he was making it up as the bunny came off the bat Wall bounced away as Betts began his home run routine.

It turns out Profar was just taunting the Dodger fans he took the ball away from. After a few seconds, he turned back to the field, showed the ball to the referee and celebrated as Betts craned his neck and returned to the dugout.

Instead of a tie, the Padres stayed ahead 1-0. The lead would grow in the next half inning when former Dodger David Peralta hammered the game's second home run off Jack Flaherty to center for a two-run shot.

From then on there were hardly any points, but a lot of emotions.

For the Dodgers, it was mostly frustration with the game – in which they missed several scoring chances (including just one run after a bases-loaded chance with no chance in the second) and lost Freddie Freeman early in the sixth inning. He left the club with what the team said was “discomfort” in his sprained right ankle.

For the Padres, it was passionate anger at the crowd – the on-field showmanship of Profar and Tatis, who responded to boos from the right field stands with a smile and a dance in the fourth inning, morphed into something else in the seventh inning.

As the Padres took the field after the seventh inning, Profar appeared to point out a fan on the left field line to an umpire and a stadium security guard. As Profar began waving goodbye to the spectator, hundreds of other Dodger fans in the area became hostile.

At some point, a ball was thrown from the left field pavilion in Profar's direction. More debris was then thrown down near the right field line, causing a delay of nearly ten minutes as more security officers surrounded the diamond.

Previously, there were other emotional arguments between Dodgers and Padres players.

Profar struggled with Will Smith at home plate in the sixth after Tatis was hit by a pitch from Flaherty in the previous at-bat. Moments later, Flaherty ended his 5 ⅓ innings, four-run start by striking out Machado and shouting profanities in his direction, a back-and-forth that continued the next half inning with Machado at third base and Flaherty in the dugout.

However, all of this did little to change the outcome.

The Padres finished the game with a series of home runs (six total in the game) in the eighth and ninth innings – all following a team duel in the San Diego dugout organized by Machado.

The Dodgers, meanwhile, were never able to get anything done against Padres starter Yu Darvish, who gave up just three hits and two walks in a seven-inning, one-run gem.

This best-of-five series has one game drawn. And while it moves to San Diego, it also comes with an extra dose of postseason intensity.