So much clutch! Profar lifts Padres to another late comeback

SAN DIEGO -- Sometimes the Padres are down. They are almost never out.

San Diego rallied for its 32nd comeback win of the season in dramatic fashion on Tuesday night, with late homers from Manny Machado and Jurickson Profar sparking a 7-5 victory over the Twins at Petco Park.

Machado tied the game at 3-3 with a two-run drive in the seventh inning -- a no-doubter into the San Diego bullpen and the 158th of his Padres tenure. He’s five shy of Nate Colbert’s long-standing franchise record.

Profar, embodying these resilient Padres, was determined to find a way, no matter what it took. On the first pitch of his at-bat against Twins left-hander Steven Okert, he squared to bunt -- only to pull back when the pitch was outside.

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Two pitches later, Profar won the game with a homer. Still, he wouldn’t second-guess himself afterward. Such is the confidence he and the Padres are playing with right now.

“I’m Profar,” he said with a smirk. “And Profar plays really good baseball. So if I bunt it, I would be safe, 100%, and it would be bases loaded, no outs for Jake Cronenworth.”

Profar clarified that statement by pointing out that he just feels comfortable with his own decision-making. He has taken his game to another level this season, and he said it’s largely because he feels free to be himself.

“That’s the No. 1 thing that switched this year for me,” Profar said. “Play baseball with my instincts. I know my manager’s got my back. So you guys are seeing the real Profar. … I’m playing baseball with a lot of confidence right now.”

So are the Padres, who have won 22 of 27. The crowds in San Diego have responded in kind. After Machado’s home run, the crowd chanted his name relentlessly for the rest of the inning. After Profar’s blast, the fans in the left-field seats greeted him with a chorus of “M-V-P” when he took the field for the ninth.

“I think we’re just having a good time when we’re playing,” Machado said. “And when we come home, and we play in front of this crowd, it just gives us that extra motivation.”

With their victory Tuesday, the Padres merely kept pace in the NL West. The Dodgers won, maintaining their three-game cushion over San Diego. But the Padres still hold a one-game edge on Arizona for the top NL Wild Card spot.

There’s a lot of baseball still left to play, of course. And if Tuesday is any indication, the Padres are going to be a particularly tough out.

Starting pitcher Martín Pérez was mostly sharp early. But he fell behind in the fourth inning after leaving a cutter over the plate to Ryan Jeffers. Jeffers launched a long two-run home run. An inning later, after Pérez had allowed the first three men to reach base, his night was done.

Right-hander Bryan Hoeing escaped that jam, having allowed only one run. From there, the Padres bullpen held Minnesota in check, capitalizing on a number of blunders by Twins baserunners. That’s generally been a theme of these Padres comebacks. Presented an inch, they’ll take a mile.

Among the three outs the Twins ran into on the bases, it was hard to fault them much for the third. With Scott on the ropes in the top of the eighth inning, Christian Vásquez laced the go-ahead two-run single to left. But Profar cut it off and made an off-balance, sidearm throw to cut down Jeffers at third.

“Tanner has to still get another out, but that pretty much eradicated the big damage of that inning,” Padres manager Mike Shildt said. “Huge play.”

These days, the Padres have a knack for finding those plays just when they need them.

“We just continue to fight,” said Machado, who proceeded to channel his inner Yogi Berra. “'Til the game’s over, the game’s not over. This team’s been doing it all year. We’re going to continue to do it. Just keep having fun while we’re doing it.”