Mookie Betts gets the best of Jurickson Profar with HR in near-carbon copy of play that sparked Padres-Dodgers dramatics

Mookie Betts celebrates a home run after confirming that he actually hit it. (AP/Gregory Bull)

Mookie Betts wasn’t getting fooled again.

In a play that was almost a carbon copy of the one that sparked the NLDS Game 2 dramatic between the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres, Betts hit a deep fly ball just over the left-field wall in his first at-bat on Tuesday at Petco Park.

There was one significant difference: Jurickson Profar didn’t make the catch this time.

With one out in the top of the first inning of Tuesday’s NLDS Game 3, Betts launched the fly ball off Padres starter Michael King. Profar gave chase in left field and had a play at the ball over the short wall near the foul pole at Petco Park.

But he didn’t come up with it. The ball bounced off his glove and into the stands for a solo home run.

From his vantage point on the base paths, Betts wasn’t so sure. And he’d been burned by Profar before. He apparently thought Profar caught the ball and took a detour from the path between first and second base across the diamond toward the Dodgers dugout.

Only when umpires confirmed a home run and third-base coach Dino Ebel signaled for Betts to keep rounding the bases did he resume his trot. Here’s another angle that shows Betts almost reaching the pitcher’s mound before turning around to finish his home run trot.

And yes, that’s a legal trot. Since no defender was making a play on Betts, he wasn’t required to remain on the base path for his home run to be legal.

For comparison, here’s Betts’ near-home run from Sunday night at Dodger Stadium.

Like his home run Tuesday, Betts’ fly ball Sunday traveled over a a short wall near the left-field foul pole. Also like Tuesday, Profar reached over the wall to make a play.

But on Sunday, Profar made the catch. And he took a moment to revel in the catch, taunting the Dodgers fans in the stands before revealing that he’d secured the out and robbed Betts of a home run. Betts was mid-celebration before Profar’s big reveal.

Hence Betts’ hesitation and subdued celebration on Tuesday.

The hit was a big one in more than one way for Betts. It ended an 0-for-22 playoff streak for the former MVP, who was 0-for-6 this postseason before Tuesday’s home run.

Despite Betts’ early home run, the Padres surged ahead in the second inning and then held on down the stretch to pick up the 6-5 win in Game 3. The victory gives them a 2-1 lead in the series ahead of Wednesday night’s Game 4, in which a win would send them to their second NLCS in the past three seasons.