Padres win 7-4 over Nationals

Padres Manny Machado

(Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)

Spread the love
Mandatory Credit: Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports

Petco Park- San Diego, California

On July 6, 1992, Manny Machado was born.

29 years later, he is one of the highest-paid players in MLB history and showing why. On his birthday, he went 3-for-4 with two doubles, two runs, and an RBI. Unfortunately for Machado, his teammates kept trying to steal the spotlight.

One of those teammates being some guy named Fernando Tatis Jr.

No one disputes that at the plate he is one of the best in the league. What makes him one of the most electric players in the game is what he can do elsewhere on the field. Today he was the first to reach the 20-20 mark when he swiped his 2oth bag, good enough for the second-highest in the league. On Monday night, he seemingly floated in the air to catch a line drive.

The one part of his game that people have a problem with is his arm. He leads the league with 18 errors, mostly throwing errors. Well, tonight, he showed why it’s an asset. In the top of the second, he kept the game scoreless when Jurickson Profar, Tatis, and Victor Caratini connected on a textbook relay to gun down Starlin Castro at home.

Tatisā€™ throw home clocked in at 95.8 mph. That is the fastest throw by an infielder that resulted in an out.

ā€œThe big thing about those, they are such momentum plays, and they can shift one way or another. For us to execute that right, Profar gets to it, gets it to Tatis, who throws a very good long hop in where Victor can handle it and tag it. It just swings momentum. It gives Ryan confidence to get right back in the zone and get goingā€, Jayce Tingler said of that big play early in the game.

The game would remain scoreless until the fourth inning. That is when yet another Padre tried to outshine Machado on his birthday. This time around, it would be Wil Myers. With two runners on, one being Machado, Myers launched a three-run homer exactly 400 feet.

Unfortunately for the Padres, Josh Harrison hit his own three-run homer to tie up the game. Not to worry, if anyone was going to take the spotlight away from Machado, it wasnā€™t going to be the Nationals.

In the bottom of the fifth, Machado hit an RBI single and eventually make his way to third. Thatā€™s when Myers hit a sac fly to score Machado. Somehow this wouldnā€™t be the last time Myers gets a hit to score Machado. In the seventh inning, both would double, with Machado scoring on Myersā€™ hit. To the credit of Myers, he went 2-for-3 with a double, home run, and five RBIs.

[wpedon id=”49075″ align=”right”]

On the mound for the Padres was Ryan Weathers. He made his second start since being sent to Triple-A for innings control. This wasnā€™t a great outing for him. Over 5.1 innings pitched, he allowed seven hits, four earned runs, no walks, and struck out two. This was just the second time that he allowed four runs in his young career. The one positive is that he used just 71 pitches, which is efficient and helpful in limiting his usage.

Austin Adams and Emilio Pagan were the next two pitchers up for the Padres. Both walked two in their 0.2 innings of work but were able to escape unscratched.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *