Washington Nationals news & notes: Nats and Padres get heated; benches clear; Friars win, 9-7…

Gore v. Profar:

The end of the series opener in San Diego carried over into the second of a three-race series this week at Petco Park.

Jurickson Profar, who hit the walk-off game-winner, protested that Washington had walked Luis Arraez to load the bases in extra innings before singled, and didn’t like that Hunter Harvey came to bat on an 0-2 pitch and celebrated the hit.

Like blessed blessed.

“I felt disrespected.” Profar said with a smile. He said this seriously ahead of the IBB match.

And the emotions he felt and showed after the game-winning hit did not sit well with his opponent.

“It was two things,” Jurickson explained, “the walk and then the ball that was thrown up in my face after that. So that really cheered me up.”

During his first game on the mound Tuesday night, catcher Keibert Lewis got in his face and poked him in the chest, then became angry when Manny Machado replaced him. Things escalated. The bench and bullpen both walked out, mostly for altercations and warnings, but no ejections.

When order was restored, Mackenzie Gore… struck Profar in the leg with what GameDay reported was a fastball. Whether intentional or not, Gore was not ejected…Padres captain Mike Shildt questioned why there was no ejection after the warning.), so he probably shouldn’t have just thrown a fastball to Manny Machado on his next at-bat, on his next pitch, and Machado hit a 393-foot, two-run home run to left-center field for a 2-0 lead.

Another “exaggerated” celebration sign (That said, wearing big hats, hitting home runs and making hip moves is all the rage in Washington DC these days, so it’s hard to complain.) And it raises inevitable questions, such as whether Gore was swayed by the emotion of the moment. [ed. note – “Don’t say ‘and stuff.’”]

Of course, Profar hit a grand slam late in the game to give the home team a 9-7 victory, and that could have been the final word. That said, there’s one more game tomorrow at Petco, so…

“To me,” Nationals manager Davey Martinez said in his postgame press conference Tuesday night, “it was a good way to send a message that, ‘Hey, you hit the ball, you won the game, but we’re not going to let it go.’

Do you not tolerate that?

“We’re going to leave it like this,” Martinez said.

Regarding Mr. Gore’s overall activities (5 innings, 5 hits, 5 runs, 3 walks, 1 strikeout, 1 home run, 94 pitches, 10 strikeouts, 14 strikeouts, 10 curveballs)?

“He was OK,” Martinez said, “he struggled a little bit, but he kept him in the game. But I think when he had to sit still like he did in the first inning, he slowed down a little bit, but he hung in there and he started throwing more pitches, so we had to get him out.”

Trade Talk:

On August 2, 2022, the Nationals made a franchise-changing trade with the Padres, sending Juan Soto and Josh Bell to San Diego. Will they return to Washington in the deal?

Mackenzie Gore, CJ Abrams, James Wood, Robert Hassell III, Jarlyn Susana.

Now that two years are fast approaching, Nationals captain Davey Martinez was asked Tuesday night to look back and offer his opinion on how the trade worked out.

“Yeah, we lost a really good player. [in Soto]”But we got a lot of good players, which is great,” Martinez told reporters. “So we’re doing well, because [Gore and Abrams] We have guys here that can help us in the big leagues. Other guys come in and we’ll be better. So we’re excited. We’re excited about our guys. You know, I love Juan and I always wish him the best, but these guys are great and I love these guys as much as they do. But it was a really good trade for us. We love CJ and MacKenzie dearly, Wood is doing well, Hassell — as soon as he gets healthy he’ll start playing again and he’s a guy that’s excited to be here one day, so it looks good.”

Harold Ramirez appears:

The Tampa Bay Rays tried to trade 29-year-old slugger Harold Ramirez this winter, this spring and again this month, but he became a designated free agent after becoming a designated player.

Ramirez hit .300/.337/.411 with 46 doubles and 19 home runs in 290 games and 1,038 at-bats over three seasons with Tampa Bay from 2022-2024, but only recorded three doubles and one home run in 49 games and 171 at-bats before the Rays DFA’d him and the Nationals signed him, piling up at-bats and preparing for a return to the majors after some time off.

“We got Harold, so he was with us in Rochester and we were trying to get him fired up,” Nationals manager Davey Martinez explained after the Nationals called up Ramirez before Monday’s series opener at San Diego. “He’s started to swing the bat really well. We need a right-handed hitter and he’s a veteran who hits really well against lefties, so he’ll definitely get an opportunity to play against lefties, and once he starts swinging the bat, we’ll be able to put him in the lineup.”

“We wanted to put him in today. He’ll be pinch-hitting today, but we want him to get acclimated and put him in as soon as possible.”

Ramirez is batting .375/.516/.417 with 9 hits in 24 at-bats in 31 at-bats in seven games for the Nationals’ Triple-A team, and is slashing .305/.305/.373 against left-handed pitchers this season.Against right-handed pitchers, he hit .243/.268/.262).

The Nationals believe he will continue to be a valuable contributor to the team.

Photo by Dennis Polloi/Getty Images

“We’re hoping he performs like he did last year in Tampa,” Martinez said when asked what the team expects from the right-handed hitter. “He had a really good year last year. He’s a really good hitter. I think he was batting .270 when we released him. So, like I said, that bat is serviceable and it’s definitely serviceable against left-handed pitchers.”

Martinez also said he thinks he’ll have a positive influence as a veteran on the Nationals’ younger players.

“He’s a really great teammate,” the captain said.[He] He loves the game. He’s very competitive, and we love that about him. We did a lot of research before he was released, and other teams had nothing but good things to say about him. But he’s a really good teammate. I know when he was there, [at Triple-A]I talked to the coaches there and they said this guy is unbelievable. He’s helped all the young guys and taught them all the little things about hitting. I said, ‘I can use that here,’ so I’m excited to use him.”