SAN DIEGO — Manny Machado hit a walk-off single on the first pitch of the bottom of the 10th inning, sending the Padres to a dramatic 7-6 victory over the Braves on Tuesday night at Petco Park.
Here’s some instant reaction from Petco Park:
Here comes the power from Tatis
Through the first three months, plenty has been made about Fernando Tatis Jr.’s power outage. But you know what? He’s been pretty good otherwise. Essentially, he’s a five-tool player who’s been missing one of those tools all season.
But the power is still in there. Clearly.
Tatis tied the game at six with his third home run of the season in the bottom of the seventh inning. He got his hands through on a sinker that caught the inside corner of the plate from Carlos Carrasco. Then, he launched it a Statcast-projected 410 feet to straightaway center field. That’s no small feat at night at Petco Park. But Tatis, despite his struggles in the power department, is clearly capable.
“The home runs will come,” Tatis said. “And if not, whatever. We’re here to play good baseball. Obviously homers are a part of it. But I’m going to keep going out there, get on base for the team, good at-bats out there, and just try to hit the ball hard, all around the field.”
Tatis, who also swatted an RBI double in the second inning, is batting .286. His OPS is up to .718. He’s been hot at the plate for a while now. Maybe the power is coming, too.
As Machado has endured the worst slump of his career, he’s been insistent that he isn’t focusing on personal results. He’s focusing on the process — and, more importantly, on winning games.
Lately, however, Machado’s results have played a direct role in the Padres winning games. In addition to Tuesday’s walk-off, his home run was the only run in the Padres’ 1-0 victory on Monday. And his homer in the 10th inning on Saturday gave San Diego a victory in Texas.
Essentially, in each of the past three Padres wins, a swing by Machado proved decisive.
“The most important part is just how the team fought today,” he said.
Machado may be quick to downplay his recent success. But his teammates are thrilled by it — even if they insist they knew it was coming all along.
“I don’t think at any point during the season, regardless of the numbers, that anybody felt bad when Manny was up at the plate,” Miller said. “We have way more images in our head of him succeeding than him failing. We know the player that he’s been throughout his career.”
Machado has looked a lot more like that version of himself over the past few days.
What a start to the homestand
For most of the past month, the Padres haven’t been all that impressive. They raced out to a 31-20 record on May 23. But they entered this week’s homestand only two games above .500.
And the homestand was a daunting one — three games apiece against the Braves and Dodgers, a pair of division leaders in the National League. Not only that, but this homestand marks the start of a stretch of five straight series against NL contenders (with only one off-day mixed into that stretch).
The Padres have started it 2-0. Even after falling behind 4-0 in the top of the second inning on Tuesday night. They rallied to take the lead with an impressive five-run rally in the bottom half. Then, after falling behind again, they tied it on Tatis’ home run.
“That was impressive,” Machado said. “Being down four and coming back and winning that ballgame, keep fighting till the end — that shows a lot about the team. We picked up each other.”
The bullpen was mostly excellent. The offense got big-time at-bats from stars and role players alike. There are question marks in the rotation. But the Padres will take this kind of start to the homestand.
“Hats off to the guys,” Miller said. “Bullpen, lineup, everybody — this was a team win.”
Where does Griffin Canning go from here?
Wandy Peralta recorded the game’s first three outs. Griffin Canning was only able to record the next two. Never a good sign when your opener lasts longer than the pitcher you’re expecting to cover the bulk of the workload.
The opener strategy is a sensible one when you’ve got a right-hander going against a Braves lineup without Ronald Acuña Jr. It’s especially sensible with Canning, who has struggled against lefties.
But the strategy only goes as far as your pitchers will let it. And Canning disappointed. He needed 40 pitches to record just two outs, allowing four runs in the second inning before Kyle Hart helped escape his jam. Canning now has a 7.38 ERA across 10 outings this season.
The Padres need him to be better than that. And with Germán Márquez on the way back from injury, it’s worth wondering how much longer Canning can hold onto his place in the rotation.
