Jurickson Profar's 2 homers propel Padres past Orioles, 6-4, for sixth consecutive win
Published in Baseball
BALTIMORE — The Padres’ last loss was to the team with the American League’s best record at the time.
On Friday, they extended their winning streak to a season-high six games by beating one of the teams with the American League’s best record.
A pair of two-run homers by Jurickson Profar, the second with two outs in the ninth inning off Orioles closer Craig Kimbrel, powered the comeback to a 6-4 victory that was rife with drama.
The Padres used six relievers after starting pitcher Adam Mazur went 2 2/3 innings, with Robert Suarez getting the final five outs.
The Padres went down by two runs early, took a two-run lead in the middle and then had that advantage leak away in the eighth.
The Orioles scored once against Mazur and one against reliever Austin Davis before four relievers got the Padres to the eighth inning with a 4-2 lead.
The fourth of those relievers was Adrián Morejón, who had stranded two inherited runners by getting the final out of the seventh.
But Anthony Santander greeted him with a home run to start to the eighth, and Ryan O’Hearn followed with a double.
Morejón got a strikeout before Heston Kjerstad bounced a ball high off the dirt in front of first base for an infield single. That moved O’Hearn to third and brought manager Mike Shildt from the dugout.
Closer Suarez entered the game and promptly yielded a sacrifice fly to Ryan Mountcastle that tied the game 4-4.
Suarez struck out pinch hitter Cedric Mullins to end the eighth.
Luis Campusano lined a one-out single to left field and was replaced at first base by pinch runner Tyler Wade, who advanced to second on a groundout by Luis Arraez and then watched Profar’s 431-foot blast sail over his head and over the center-field wall.
Suarez proceeded toin induce a groundout, strikeout and popout the ninth for his 23rd save, and MLB-leading seventh for which he worked more than three outs.
The Padres took the lead Friday night with another four-run inning, their league-leading 37th of the season.
They are 6-1 on their longest road trip of the season, which began a week earlier with a 7-0 loss in Cleveland.
(Entering Friday, the Guardians and Orioles were tied with 61-41 marks. The Guardians won in Philadelphia on Friday.)
The Padres arrived in Baltimore having outscored the Guardians and Nationals 28-3 over the past five games and fresh off Dylan Cease’s no-hitter on Thursday in Washington.
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