WASHINGTON, D.C. — There’s no need for baseball diplomacy in our nation’s capital, according to the Washington Nationals.
The spicy run-in with the Padres in late June that covered two electric games and led to benches clearing at Petco Park? It’s all water under the Key Bridge along the tranquil Potomac River.
“I’m done,” Nationals manager Dave Martinez said, smiling. “Baseball is baseball. I don’t hold no grudges for anything. Guys do what they do because they want to compete.”
The ultimate we-said, they-said situation delivered a pair of must-watch games.
One night, the Nationals felt Padres All-Star Jurickson Profar celebrated too much in the direction of their dugout on a walk-off hit. In the first inning of the next game, catcher Keibert Ruiz lifted his mask to share that sentiment with Profar at home plate.
On-deck hitter Manny Machado rushed over to push Ruiz away. The dugouts and bullpens emptied.
“Just the adrenaline of the game,” Ruiz said. “Obviously, we don’t want to fight and do that. We were having a conversation. He’s been good this year, man. He’s an All-Star. I’m happy for him.”
Though the confrontational fireworks fizzled, a fuse was lit on the competitive ones.
Former Padres pitcher MacKenzie Gore hit Profar’s back foot on the next pitch. Despite being warned about doing exactly that, Gore remained in the game.
Then Machado, Profar’s defender moments earlier, deposited the ensuing 97 mph fastball into the left-center field seats as Petco lost its ever-lovin’ marbles.
The ESPN 30-for-30 would be a treat.
Profar said he felt disrespected during the previous game when the Nationals chose to walk two-time batting champ and then-MLB hits leader Luis Arraez in front of him.
The walk-off sparked an animated celebration the Nationals liked about as much as sardine ice cream.
That caused Ruiz and others to bark back from the dugout. Veteran Jesse Winker got into a shouting match with a Padres fan. The dog-days fires were stoked.
“What he did the game before, adrenaline, like I say,” Ruiz said.
Five pitches into the next game, Ruiz and Profar engaged in something falling short of the Camp David Accords.
Though Gore had been warned against hitting Profar, that’s exactly what happened the first time he stepped back on the mound.
“That was strange sitting out there for 10, 15 minutes,” said Gore, who made his big-league debut with the Padres in 2022. “Then you get warned, ‘Do not hit this guy’ because you can’t hit the guy. Couldn’t been worse timing to hit someone.
“Obviously, it wasn’t intentional. When you know guys, you don’t want to hurt anybody.”
Machado’s ball-torching response was not the end of the drama. Profar, of all people, later hit a grand slam in the 9-7 roller-coaster ride.
“A lot of emotions,” Padres manager Mike Shildt said at the time. “… We’re not going to start it, but we’ll finish it.”
The two days of theater on the diamond infused a healthy dash of excitement for two franchises forever connected by the 2022 mega-deal that sent Juan Soto to the Padres.
Gore was a key piece of that transaction, along with now-All-Star shortstop CJ Abrams, starting outfielder James Wood and prospects Robert Hassell and Jarlin Susana.
“We didn’t play well after it, but I think it was good for us,” Gore said. “That’s the first time I’d been in a situation like that and it was like that for a lot of other guys here. So, something we learned from.”
The takeaway on the Padres side? Not much.
“I don’t care about that stuff,” Profar said then.
Ruiz managed to laugh about it.
“It was a tough game,” he said. “Then Machado came and hit a home run. It was a good show.”
The Padres open a three-game series at Nationals Park on Tuesday. There’s no need to pack the boxing gloves along with the bats. It’s just an interesting wrinkle in the middle of a long season.
Bring on the peace signs and pinch hitters.
“It’s just baseball,” Martinez said.
If only other things could be solved this simply in this city.