SAN DIEGO — Those extended nets in front of the stands certainly keep fans safe from hard-hit foul balls. But they can’t stop a determined defender, apparently.
Shortstop Ha-Seong Kim did his best Derek Jeter impression by flinging himself toward the ball on the third-base side to haul in a foul pop by Alex Call during the sixth inning of the Padres’ 2-1 win over the Nationals on Sunday afternoon at Petco Park. The only problem was that the ball came down just where the netting tapers down to the wall. As Kim reached for the ball, he hit the padding and the top of the net and was knocked off balance.
Kim fell to the warning-track dirt hard, and third baseman Manny Machado quickly ran to check on him. Kim, however, had a more immediate concern. He rolled over and showed the ball was still in his glove, good for the out.
Kim was on the ground for a couple more moments before gathering himself and staying in the game, apparently none the worse for wear.
The Padres trailed by a run at the time. Left fielder Jurickson Profar helped keep it that way when he threw out Joey Meneses on the very next play. Meneses was trying to stretch a single, but Profar got the ball into second base quickly for his 10th outfield assist, matching Milwaukee’s Hunter Renfroe for the NL lead.
That one-run deficit became a one-run advantage, 2-1, in the bottom half of the sixth when Josh Bell hit a two-run homer, his second as a Padre and his second in two days against the team that traded him earlier this month.
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