Machado ties A-Gon on Padres' HR list in romp at the Trop

ST. PETERSBURG -- The Padres’ offense really enjoyed its first visit to Tropicana Field in eight years.

San Diego piled up 10 runs through the first four innings en route to a 13-5 victory over the Rays on Friday night. It was the club’s best offensive output since putting up 13 runs against the D-backs on June 8.

“The [hunger] of the at-bats was really impressive,” manager Mike Shildt said. “Just the approach and the whole offensive machine, one through nine.”

Besides playing in the venue for the first time since 2016, the Padres also snapped a seven-game losing streak at Tropicana Field dating back to June 24, 2010.

Back then, Manny Machado was still a couple of weeks away from beginning his pro career as the No. 3 overall pick in the MLB Draft, and Adrián González was San Diego’s designated hitter in a 5-3 loss to the Rays.

Fourteen years later, Machado and González were linked once again. Machado, playing DH, drilled his 161st dinger with San Diego, moving him into a tie with González for second in franchise history.

“To be on that list in such a short period of time, it's awesome,” Machado said. “Just to be on that same level, it's an honor.”

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Machado, in his sixth season with the Padres, will soon pass Nate Colbert (163) as the club’s all-time leader in home runs. He may do it this weekend with the way he has been stinging the baseball. Machado’s three-run clout in the second inning was his third homer in his past five games and his 10th in his previous 30. Over that span, Machado has recorded a .325/.366/.650 slash line with 19 extra-base hits and 30 RBIs.

He paced San Diego’s attack with three hits, all of which came on different pitch types. His RBI single off of Rays starter Taj Bradley in the first inning came on a splitter. His homer was a four-seamer that Statcast projected to travel 416 feet into the right-center-field seats. His sixth-inning single against reliever Richard Lovelady came off a slider.

It’s the sign of a great hitter who is locked in.

“My swing is where it needs to be,” Machado said. “My body is feeling great, too. Just trying to be as consistent as I can possibly be.”

“He’s got such a balanced swing,” Shildt said of the six-time All-Star. “He's got a good feel for what he's doing, and that swing allows him to be balanced and on time and then it allows him to be able to handle everything.”

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The Padres handled just about everything Bradley threw at them early on, plating seven runs through the first two innings. It was their most since scoring nine times in two innings against the Giants on March 31.

Jackson Merrill capped a three-run first with a 107.7 mph single to center that drove in Machado. Jake Cronenworth preceded Machado’s three-run dinger in the second with an RBI single of his own.

By the way, 14 years ago, Cronenworth had just finished his sophomore season at St. Clair High in Michigan and “was just trying to figure out if I wanted to play baseball or hockey,” he said.

Donovan Solano added a bases-loaded walk in the third, and David Peralta put San Diego into double digits with a no-doubt, two-run home run in the fourth. By the end of that inning, shortstop Mason McCoy was the only member of the starting lineup without at least one hit, run or RBI.

“Everybody's contributing, and that's exactly what you want,” Cronenworth said. “That’s how we win.”

The Padres also seem to triumph whenever Martín Pérez is on the mound. The left-hander didn’t have his best stuff -- he allowed four runs in the second inning and needed 101 pitches to get through five -- but San Diego has won each of Pérez’s six starts since acquiring him from the Pirates at the July 30 Trade Deadline.

“I give him a ton of credit,” Shildt said of his starter. “He figured it out, and I saw him start developing a little more rhythm by the fourth. … He started making some more quality pitches, and the moxie of being a veteran paid off.”