Home run or robbery? Only Jurickson Profar knew
Mark Sheldon
@m_sheldonLOS ANGELES -- Everybody at Dodger Stadium thought Mookie Betts hit a game-tying solo home run in the bottom of the first inning of Sunday's 10-2 Dodgers loss in Game 2 of the National League Division Series vs. the Padres.
That is ¡ everybody but Padres left fielder Jurickson Profar, who knew better.
With San Diego leading, 1-0, on Fernando Tatis Jr.'s homer in the top of the first, Betts appeared to answer in the bottom half.
Betts lifted the first pitch from Yu Darvish deep to left field. Profar gave pursuit and leaped over the short fence and extended his left arm into the second row of the seating area. He somehow caught the ball among all the raised arms and hands of Dodgers fans.
"I thought that was gone," Darvish said through a translator after the Padres evened the NLDS at a win apiece. "And my mind was like, 'OK, it's a tie game, let's go, let's go, let's get back into the game.' But obviously he actually caught that ball. So I feel lucky."
It was initially unclear that a catch was made. At first glance, it appeared to be a clean homer for Betts, with the FS1 TV broadcast even posting a celebratory graphic, but Profar faced the seats and started hopping up and down at the warning track while trolling the fans -- with the ball safely in his glove.
¡°That was one of my wishes all the time: I want to rob a homer. And I did it in a playoff game, so it was awesome," Profar told FS1 back in the Padres' dugout after the first inning.
From right field, teammate Fernando Tatis Jr. loved what he saw.
"I was probably like everybody else, had that question mark until he started jumping back, then he showed the ball," Tatis said. "My emotions went through the roof. I was screaming at him. I definitely knew he wasn't listening to me but I was still screaming at him."
In the front row of left-field seats with his girlfriend and two kids, Dodgers fan Mario Zazueta thought -- at minimum -- that he had a great souvenir and a story to tell. Or that he could at least celebrate a Dodgers playoff homer.
¡°I looked and I thought he missed the ball," said Zazueta, who hails from La Puente, Calif. "I thought the ball was a home run. When I turned and looked at him, he was staring right at me. I looked at him and I¡¯m like, ¡®All right.¡¯ I pointed to him, ¡®You got me.¡¯ But he didn¡¯t say anything.¡±
¡°No, I didn't say anything, just I had to fight with them to catch the ball," Profar said. "They were hitting my glove.¡±
Betts was rounding second base and had his right arm raised until it became clear he was out. He jogged back to the home dugout.
"I thought it was a homer," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. "I was trying to watch Mookie, and I didn't know until he came running past me. I thought that was a momentum changer."
Meanwhile, Zazueta wanted to avoid infamy for not getting the ball.
¡°Of course it¡¯s crushing," he said. "I don¡¯t want to be the next Steve Bartman.¡±