PHILADELPHIA ā Jurickson Profar lost his cool just before the San Diego Padres lost the game.
With a runner on first and no outs in the ninth inning and the Padres trailing by two runs in Game 3 of the NL Championship Series, Profar thought he checked his swing on a 3-2 pitch from Phillies reliever Seranthony DomĆnguez.
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But as Profar tossed his bat toward the San Diego dugout and headed toward first, he was ruled to have swung by third-base umpire Todd Tichenor.
Profar slammed his helmet, yelled an expletive at Tichenor and then kicked his helmet before being ejected by plate umpire Ted Barrett.
Instead of a walk that would have put runners on first and second with no outs, it was an important first out for DomĆnguez, who retired the next two batters to complete a 4-2 win that gave Philadelphia a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven matchup.
āIt shouldāve been a walk,ā Profar said.
Profar said he was trying to get out of the way of DomĆnguezās back-foot slider and held his swing.
āI didnāt have a really good chance to see (the replay), but Iām pretty sure I didnāt go,ā he said. āMaybe the bat was in front, but I was just getting out of the way and I didnāt go. I didnāt swing.ā
Padres manager Bob Melvin didnāt dispute the umpireās decision ā but didnāt necessarily agree, either.
āBlocked out a little bit,ā Melvin said of his view. āOriginally, it looked like it might have gone. Go back and look at it, maybe the bat didnāt get out there. Itās a close call, tough one. But maybe not."
āItās a big moment, obviously,ā he said.
As for his reaction, Profar doesnāt regret it -ā though he did admit he would react differently in a similar situation going forward.
āWe play a game and we play with emotion,ā he said. āWe donāt play soft. We play to win. I play with emotion.ā
Would he do it again?
āNo probably not,ā he said. āBut in that moment, I did it. But I learn from it.ā
Asked whether a suspension from Major League Baseball might be forthcoming, he said, āNo chance. MLB doesnāt suspend people for that.ā
Last year, a hotly disputed check swing ended the deciding Game 5 of the highly anticipated NL Division Series showdown between the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants.
With two outs and a runner on first in the bottom of the ninth, the Giantsā Wilmer Flores was ruled to have swung at a pitch from Max Scherzer. Some angry fans at Oracle Park threw trash onto the outfield grass.
After the game, first-base umpire Gabe Morales, who made the call on an appeal from the plate ump, seemed to waver on whether he got it right.
Check swings have long been a much-debated part of baseball.
For a pitch to be a strike, does the hitter have to ābreak his wristsā trying to hold up? Is it when the bat goes in front of the plate? Is it based on the batterās intent?
No need to check it out in the Official Baseball Rules: In the almost 200 pages that govern Major League Baseball, thereās no mention of how to call it.
Itās purely an umpireās judgment -- and judgment calls are not reviewable under MLBās replay rules.
SOTO STRUGGLES
Padres star slugger Juan Soto went 1 for 3, raising his postseason average this year to .231, but has gone 13 consecutive games dating to the regular season without a home run.
Soto has struggled in right field in this series, too. He made a throwing error and lost a ball in the sun in San Diegoās 8-5 victory in Game 2 on Wednesday.
On Friday, he couldnāt keep Bryson Stottās second-inning hit from getting past him and it reached the wall for a double. The Padres got out of that frame without giving up a run, but they werenāt as lucky in the sixth when Soto couldnāt snare Alec Bohmās sinking liner with a diving attempt that resulted in an RBI double that gave Philadelphia a two-run cushion.
The 23-year-old Soto, whom San Diego acquired from Washington in a blockbuster deal on Aug. 2, clubbed five homers and had 14 RBIs in 17 postseason games in 2019 to help the Nationals win the World Series.
Soto has two doubles and four RBIs this postseason, and last went deep on Oct. 1 against the White Sox.
Soto has seen his power dip since the Padres traded away six prized prospects to get him. In 52 regular-season games since the trade, Soto hit six homers with 16 RBIs while batting .236 and slugging .390.
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