ATLANTA -- Manny Machado slugged his first Dodgers home run on Thursday night, lining the first Anibal Sanchez pitch of the sixth inning into the left-center seats in a game the Dodgers won, 8-2.
Manager Dave Roberts had Braves officials retrieve the ball to present to Machado.
"He might not care about. He might," said Roberts. "I just felt to get that souvenir is a good thing. We expect a lot more of those."
Machado was playing in his seventh game since coming over from Baltimore in a 5-for-1 trade during the All-Star break. It was his 25th home run of the season, and Statcast™ projected it at 426 feet with a 108.7-mph exit velocity.
"Finally got it out of the way, and it came with the win, which makes it so much better," said Machado. "I'll keep the ball and keep the jersey. It means a lot to us."
Before the homer, Machado was 7-for-29 for the Dodgers with a double, triple and one RBI. The home run also extended Machado's streak of reaching base in consecutive games to a career-best 26, during which he's hit .340.