Jurickson Profar makes Dodgers' nightmare real as Padres hammer LA's bullpen

After a nothing-nothing game through three innings on Sunday, Dodgers nemesis Manny Machado came up to make things interesting, cranking a solo home run to put the first run of the night on the board. The Dodgers — who talked a big game after their win on Saturday, especially after benches cleared when Jurickson Profar took exception to a pitch in — responded quickly, with an RBI single by Will Smith (the trash-talker in question, who called Profar "irrelevant") and a two-run home run by Max Muncy to put the odds in the Dodgers' favor.

But these Padres, unfortunately, are fighters. They started taking advantage of a Dodgers bullpen that just didn't have their best stuff and tied the game in the sixth, then Profar came back up in the seventh to absolutely bury a struggling, newly re-called-up JP Feyereisen, who is undoubtedly facing a trip back out to Oklahoma City after his performance.

Feyereisen loaded the bases on a Xander Bogaerts walk, Fernando Tatis Jr. single, and then a Jake Cronenworth walk. He got Machado to pop out and we allowed some air back into our lungs, but then Profar (who's been on a mind-boggling hot streak with the Padres) cleared the bases with a long double. It just had to be Profar, didn't it?

Jurickson Profar all but solidifies series win at Dodger Stadium for Padres after bases-clearing double

Aside from the spark of life in the fourth, the Dodgers just couldn't seem to be able to get anything going through the bottom of the seventh. Only Mookie Betts was able to get a hit down outside of that fourth inning three-spot gave San Diego way too many free passes, with a startling 13 walks through the top of the eighth (eight of them from Paxton).

Did Smith's comments jinx the Dodgers a little? The Padres' caption for the video of the moment certainly indicated something of the sort, and given Profar's .321/.419/.528 (with two home runs and 10 RBI) start for San Diego, maybe it wasn't the smartest thing to say.

The Dodgers have been talking a big game from before the season even started, and although they do usually have reason enough feel great about themselves, in this case it came back to bite them in the worst way.