San Diego Padres' Fernando Tatis Jr. follows through after hitting a three-run home run off Seattle Mariners starting pitcher George Kirby to score Donovan Solano and Luis Arraez during the third inning of a baseball game, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Jason Redmond)
SEATTLE (AP) — Manny Machado hit a two-run homer to become San Diego’s career home runs leader, Fernando Tatis Jr. added a three-run drive and the Padres slugged past the Seattle Mariners 7-3 on Tuesday night.
Machado’s 164th homer in a Padres uniform was a line drive to center field off George Kirby in the sixth inning and gave San Diego a 5-2 lead. Machado watched from home plate as the ball left the bat at nearly 109 mph.
Machado’s homer was his 26th this season and snapped a tie with Nate Colbert atop the Padres list. Machado has 339 career homers among Baltimore, the Dodgers and San Diego.
And he was able to get the ball back, hitting it to a part of the ballpark where no trades were needed.
“Huge, especially in the situation of the game, give us the lead there and give us a nice little cushion,” Machado said. “Definitely a special moment there for sure that I’ll never forget.”
While Machado’s homer set a mark, Tatis put San Diego ahead. Tatis sent an opposite-field drive to right for a 3-2 lead with his first long ball since June 20 — prior to a lengthy stint on the injured list due a stress reaction in his right thighbone.
Machado added a two-run single in the seventh inning that clipped the back of pitcher Austin Voth and bounced into center field.
“You have guys that anchor your lineup and he’s definitely that guy that anchors it, offensively, defensively,” Padres manager Mike Shildt said.
Yu Darvish threw five innings in his second start since rejoining the Padres. Darvish (5-3) allowed solo home runs to Cal Raleigh and Luke Raley but pitched out of a jam in the third inning after Seattle put the first two runners on. Darvish struck out Julio Rodríguez and Randy Arozarena both looking sandwiched around fly out from Raleigh.
Darvish allowed seven hits, struck out five and walked none. It was his 201st victory combined in Major League Baseball and Japan’s big leagues, tying Hideo Nomo for second among Japanese-born pitchers, two behind Hiroki Kuroda.
“Obviously he’s a legend,” Darvish said of Nomo. “I feel like I’m not close to him at this point in time. Maybe the numbers are what they are but as far as a pitcher coming from Japan I feel like I’m not even close to him.”
Raleigh’s homer was his 30th this season, putting him in rare company as just the 12th catcher with multiple 30-homer seasons. J.P. Crawford added an RBI single in the seventh, but Jason Adam got Rodríguez to bounce into a double play with the bases loaded to end the threat.
Kirby (11-11) was tagged for five earned runs and has allowed 11 homers in his past seven starts after allowing just two long balls during a span of 12 starts earlier this season.
“It really came down to three pitches that I missed and five runs on the board,” Kirby said. “A team like that I just got to be more fine.”
New Shortstop
Xander Bogaerts made his first start of the season at shortstop for the Padres. It’s a familiar position for Bogaerts having started more than 1,300 games in his career at shortstop and provides some clarity in the short-term while the Padres wait for regular shortstop Ha-Seong Kim to return. Kim has not played since Aug. 18 because of right shoulder inflammation.
Right on cue, the first two outs of the bottom of the first both went to Bogaerts — a pop out and a ground ball.
Up Next
Padres: RHP Michael King (12-8, 3.10) snapped a two-start losing streak allowing one run in six innings in his last outing vs. San Francisco.
Mariners: RHP Bryan Woo (7-2, 2.36) has won his past two decisions and allowed two runs over five innings in his last start vs. Oakland.
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
By TIM BOOTH
AP Sports Writer
This post was last modified on 09/10/2024 11:11 pm
