San Diego Padres left fielder Jurickson Profar, who is second in the big leagues in batting and first in the National League in on-base percentage, has been dealing with a sore knee, according to manager Mike Shildt, something that contributed to his early exit Tuesday night against the Oakland Athletics.
Profar hurt himself swinging at a pitch leading off the eighth inning and fell to the ground. He was replaced by pinch-hitter David Peralta, who flied out to center field.
Shildt said after the game that Profar has a “sore knee. I mean, it’s something he’s been battling and playing with a little bit. … It’s something he’s dealt with and medically we have a handle on. I think we’ve got a pretty good idea of what this is and we’ve been able to treat it and get ahead of it. Tonight it just was one of those nights that wasn’t good for him.”
The Padres beat the A’s 4-3 in San Diego, a game that saw Fernando Tatis Jr. extend his hitting streak to a career-high 17 games, the longest current hitting streak in the majors. He also extended his on-base streak to a career-best 21 games.
“Every win is huge,” Tatis said. “Even losing Profar at the end and still as a team being able to come back, shows what resiliency we have. We feel like we are in every single game.”
He said watching Profar leave the game “is concerning. It’s huge. It’s like losing our very backbone right now. Hopefully, our boy can be back tomorrow. It’s baseball, and injuries are always part of it.”
Tatis said Profar has been dealing with the sore knee for a month, “probably being too much on the bases, that’s what we have been talking about.”
The Padres popped above .500 by winning the series and will go for their first sweep of the season Wednesday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.