San Diego Padres at Chicago White Sox

Profar drives in winning run in 11th as Padres beat 101-loss White Sox 2-1

Profar singled off Declan Cronin (0-1) to score automatic runner José Azocar to put the Padres ahead in the 11th.

Rich Hill (8-14) allowed an unearned run and two hits in two innings for the Padres (82-80), who were eliminated from playoff contention Friday after reaching the NLCS and going 89-73 last year.

“A little irony there with a one-run, extra-inning game to finish it off,” said manager Bob Melvin, whose team went 2-12 in extras and 9-23 in one-run games. “Obviously, we played a lot better at the end.”

Zach Remillard had three hits for the White Sox (61-101), who reached 100 losses Saturday for the fifth time and first since 2018 after going 81-81 last season.

“Not what we had hoped for, but there were a lot of improvements from the younger guys,” said catcher Yasmani Grandal, who added that he will “test the market” in terms of playing again.

Remillard singled off Hill to drive in automatic runner Elvis Andrus to tie it in the 10th. Gavin Sheets hit a single to shallow left before Grandal grounded into an inning-ending double play.

Ha-Seong Kim gave the Padres the lead in the 10th on a sac fly off Deivi García after Brett Sullivan grounded out to first to advance automatic runner Eguy Rosario to third.

Starter Pedro Avila struck out seven and allowed three hits in five scoreless innings for San Diego.

José Ureña allowed four hits in six shutout innings for the White Sox, who lost 15 of 21, finishing with the fourth-worst record in the majors and in fourth place in the AL Central.

“We have some decisions to make all over the place,” manager Pedro Grifol said. “I’m going to stay here for a little bit. (New GM Chris Getz) and I will meet and the front office will meet and see where we go from here.”

ONE MORE TIME

Juan Soto played 162 games for the first time in his career and is the sixth Padre to reach the mark.

“It means a lot, just a lot of hard work throughout the season, never give up, going through anything that’s been happening all season long, I just keep playing, the bad finger, the 0-for-4s, I just keep grinding,” Soto said.

Melvin jokingly asked Soto on Saturday about getting a day off.

“Don’t do that to me,” Soto said with a laugh.

Soto led the majors for the third consecutive season in walks (132) and tied San Diego’s single-season record. Soto was replaced by a pinch hitter in the fourth.

Soto said his finger injury will be checked out in San Diego and a decision will be made about treatment.

LOOKING AHEAD

Melvin is 171-153 in two seasons with the Padres, who finished third in the NL West despite having baseball’s third-highest payroll and a 19-7 record in September.

“I’m under contract here next year, and that’s the only thing I’m thinking about right now,” Melvin said.

FINAL FIGURE

The White Sox drew 1,669,628 fans, down from 2,009,359 last season.

TRAINER’S ROOM

WHITE SOX: SS Tim Anderson, 3B Yoán Moncada and OFs Eloy Jiménez and Andrew Benintendi were out of the lineup. “Could they play? Yes. Do I want them to play? No,” Grifol said. “The guys that are not in the lineup today are guys that are battling through some injuries and guys that we need moving forward.”

UP NEXT

The Padres face the Dodgers in their first spring game Feb. 22.

The White Sox open the spring Feb. 23 at the Cubs.

How can I watch San Diego Padres vs. Chicago White Sox?

• TV Channel: Padres at White Sox 2022 MLB Baseball, is broadcasted on MLB.tv.
• Online streaming: Sign up for Fubo.

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