Jurickson Profar finding extra-base stroke after one-on-one with Padres manager Bob Melvin
Jurickson Profar hasn’t been an everyday player since 2018. He’s collected more plate appearances than ever — 611 after Thursday’s 5-4 loss with a dozen games left — and he was a bit more of complementary player when he hit 20 home runs to help Bob Melvin’s Athletics push their way into the AL postseason in 2019.The 29-year-old switch-hitter is the everyday left fielder and, based on the guys available, the leadoff hitter of choice for a playoff-starved franchise.
Profar had been hitting .176/.258/.270 over his previous 42 games. He’d hit .277/.363/.400 over a 50-game stretch before sustaining his concussion in left field in July and returning to play 29 straight games before getting a day off. “You would expect a player like him to start playing better here down the stretch,” Melvin said, “and he has, whether it’s defensively — he made a couple nice plays out in the outfield today. It feels like his energy’s back. He had some really good at-bats, including the last one.Pujols’ march stalled
Given all the red that had flooded Petco Park this week, it might not have been a surprise to hear some dissatisfaction as Mike Clevinger missed with his 3-2 slider to Albert Pujols in the first inning Tuesday night.
The 42-year-old Pujols went 4-for-10 with a walk and a strikeout in the series but provided two scares on Thursday: A 97 mph flyout to left off Adrián Morejón in the sixth and a 108.6 mph drive off Joe Musgrove down the left-field line that went for a single because Profar played it well off the wall.“I’ve watched him play since I was a little kid and to play against him — one of the first home runs I gave up was to Pujols,” he said.
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