The Nationals set the tone early, but the Padres responded with authority in a 9-7 win.

Before Tuesday’s game, there were rumors that a handful of citizens objected to the event. As Jesse Winker made it to the last out in the top of the first inning Tuesday, he had a few words for Proffer as he made his way to leave the field.

As Profar stepped into the batter’s box in the bottom half while striking out second, catcher Kibert Ruiz started the conversation, tapping Profar on the chest with his pointer finger because Profar had not – at first – made eye contact. Eventually, he did that and more, verbally arguing with the Nationals’ catcher in front of the Padres’ Manny Machado, who was waiting in the on-deck circle, and pushing Ruiz away, leading to the dugout and bullpens on the field. But became empty.

Injured Nationals pitcher Trevor Williams kept Ruiz in check. A Padres coach blocked Profar away from the crowd. Nationals manager Dave Martínez and Padres manager Mike Shildt took the field, with Shildt seeming particularly upset by the incident. The umpires issued warnings to both dugouts.

Martínez said of Ruiz, “He felt like he needed to say something. And honestly, I was proud of him. I was really proud. I mean, like I said, sometimes you “Sometimes you wear your emotions on your sleeve. But I like the fact that he stuck up for our people.”

He added: “For me, (the conversation) was a good way to send a message. Like, ‘Hey, you hit the ball, you won the game, but we’re not going to tolerate that.’ Asked which “him” he was referring to, Martínez declined to elaborate.

Ruiz said he did not plan to talk with Profar until the outfielder walked up to the plate, saying the adrenaline and the ballpark made him better.

“I feel like it wasn’t very good – what he did yesterday wasn’t good,” Ruiz said. “I feel that way myself, and I just wanted to tell her.”

On the first pitch of Profar’s at-bat, Mackenzie Gore hit him in the leg with a 97.7-mph fastball, but turned and smiled, indicating it was not intentional, which he admitted after the game. to be confirmed. The umpires agreed that this was enough to avoid ejection. Because no one had been thrown yet – Shildt came back to argue and was thrown out of the game.

After one pitch, Machado launched a two-run homer that sent Petco Park and its paying attendance of 40,825 reaching a level of intensity that topped Monday’s walk-off win. Profar rounded the bases and raised his arms, then waited for Machado to touch home plate before shaking the dust off his shoulder. Almost everyone in the Padres dugout came out and celebrated the home run.

Ruiz and Winker were heavily criticized for their consecutive at-bats, but the latter gave the Nationals a third-inning lead with a two-run homer. Washington remained in the dugout – which Martínez was proud of and Winker thought nothing of.

“I love it. I really do,” Martínez said. “We celebrate amongst ourselves. We don’t have to celebrate in front of other teams or people. I love the character of this team. “I do. I talk about it all the time, but we do things the right way.”

Winker said: “When it comes to celebrating, where baseball is right now, I feel like it’s a lid off where you can celebrate however you want. Universally (and in baseball) it’s OK. Some people celebrate, some people like Lane Thomas hit a home run, put their head down and run. …There is no right or wrong.”

Suddenly, poised to play .500 baseball in June for the first time in three seasons, the Nationals are stumbling after four of their strangest games of the season.

On Saturday, the Nationals (38-41) suffered the first walk-off loss in MLB history due to a pitch clock violation. On Sunday, he pitched 5⅓ no-hit innings against a starter with an ERA over 13.00 who was activated from the 60-day injured list before allowing two runs in the ninth for the win. On Monday, the Nationals made a three-run comeback, took a three-run lead in the top of the 10th, and were shut out. All this happened on Tuesday.

At Petco Park against the Padres (43–41), the Nationals did not pass the first test. Two weeks earlier, Gore had an altercation with teammate Nick Senzel in the dugout, but he finished the game with 10 strikeouts and mended the relationship before the game ended. On Tuesday, he could not muster the same response. The lefty labored in the fifth, striking out three more to wrap up his head-turning start, with five earned runs, a strikeout (to tie a career low) and a 5-4 loss.

And then, with the Padres bases loaded in the sixth and Nationals reliever Dylan Floro thrown out of the game after giving up three singles, Profar had a piece of poetry left to write, sending Derek Law’s cutter 353 feet to right field. Took it in, nailed it inside the foul pole for a grand slam and extended the lead to 9-4. There was less theatrics this time – perhaps at a slower pace, though without any taunts or gestures to the crowd while Law threw up some dirt on the mound – as fans showered Profar with MVP chants.

The Nationals scored two more runs in the eighth, via Joey Meneses’ sacrifice fly and Harold Ramirez’s RBI double for his first hit as a National. CJ Abrams added an RBI single in the ninth.

Ruiz, at just 25 years old, one of the longest-tenured players on the roster, has been a calm and steady presence since arriving from the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2021 as part of the Max Scherzer and Trea Turner trade Is. Winker, signed to a one-year contract at the start of spring training, has emerged as one of the more intense personalities on the Nets and was recorded chirping with a Padres fan after Monday’s game. When asked after Tuesday’s game if he had stopped the noise, Winker referenced the incident.

“Well, I can’t say I’ll stop it because I talked to a fan yesterday,” he said. “But you try. Fans are very excited about their team. I believe this is their only team in town. They sell out every night… (but) it’s all good.”

notes: Josiah Gray (flexor strain) made his fourth rehab start with Class AAA Rochester, tossing 73 pitches in six innings while allowing one earned run on four hits with no walks and four strikeouts. The right-hander, who has been out since the beginning of April, mixed six of his seven pitches and hit 92 mph with his four-seamer, which was 93 mph earlier in the year. But it was.