San Diego Padres outfielder Jurickson Profar left their 9-8 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates early on Wednesday night after he took a pitch to his right leg.
In the sixth inning at PNC Park, Profar was drilled below the knee in his right leg by a pitch from Pirates reliever Hunter Stratton. Profar immediately fell down and rolled over before hopping away and slamming his helmet to the ground, clearly in pain.
Jurickson Profar was in some serious pain after taking this pitch off the knee
He stayed in the game at first but has now been pulled pic.twitter.com/Af5eY1ahzp
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) August 8, 2024
Profar managed to stay in the game and advanced to second base briefly after a single from Xander Bogaerts, but he was then removed from the game for good.
Specifics of his injury are not yet known. It’s unclear how long he’ll be sidelined.
Profar entered the night with a .302 batting average with 19 home runs, 71 RBi and a National League-best .395 on-base percentage. The 31-year-old was named an All-Star starter for the first time in his career earlier this summer, too.
The Pirates, after jumping up early with two quick runs in the first inning, nearly pulled off a one-run win on Wednesday night after Andrew McCutchen hit both a solo home run and then a two RBI single down the stretch to put them ahead. But it was Jackson Merrill who hit a solo home run in the top of the ninth to tie the game back up, which eventually forced extra innings.
San Diego then flew ahead in the 10th after Bogaerts hit an RBI single to kick off the inning and then Manny Machado and Merrill each hit a runner in to push the Padres back in the lead. Though the Pirates hung in there briefly in the bottom of the inning, after the Padres walked in a run and then Michael Taylor scored on a wild pitch, the Padres held on for the one-run win.
The Pirates dropped to 56-57 on the year with the loss, which marked their third straight and fifth in their last six. They currently sit in third in the NL Central standings, though they’re within five games of the final wild card spot in the National League.
The Padres will wrap up their three-game series with the Pirates on Thursday afternoon. They are currently in third in the NL West standings at 63-52 and hold the second wild card spot.
