San Diego Padres snap losing streak on Manny Machado’s big night

The San Diego Padres earned a much-needed win at Baltimore, thanks to Manny Machado putting on a big show against his former team.

The San Diego Padres needed to find their way after being swept by the Pittsburgh Pirates. They did just that on Tuesday, defeating the Baltimore Orioles 8-3 on a memorable night for Manny Machado.

The Padres took advantage of an Orioles roster that’s ranked last in the MLB in several offensive and pitching categories. The Orioles were 1-9 in their previous 10 games, including five blown leads.

This was a must-win game against a bad team, and the Friars answered the call with eight runs off of 12 hits, going 3-for-4 with runners in scoring position.

Leading the way were Machado and Francisco Mejia. The former had an emotional night as it was the first time he’d played in Baltimore as a Padre, and he put a hurt on the team with which he started his major league career.

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Machado went 2-for-4 with two RBIs and a home run, which happened to be his 100th homer at Camden Yards.

“Honestly, I wasn’t expecting anything,” Machado told MLB.com about the reception he received from the Baltimore crowd. “It did go above and beyond. It was truly special and something I’ll never forget.”

Mejia was 2-for-3 with another home run and a single, continuing to raise his profile as San Diego goes between him and Austin Hedges at the catching position.

Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manuel Margot also launched home runs for the Padres, who scored at least one run in five consecutive innings.

On the mound, San Diego’s rookie sensation Logan Allen pitched a second solid game to start his MLB career at 2-0, allowing just two runs off of eight hits through six innings.

He recovered well after allowing a single and a double to the first two batters he faced, which led to a first-inning run to Trey Mancini.

Allen subsequently settled down and finished with five strikeouts and two walks, suggesting that he too has potential for a bright future with the Friars.

The San Diego Padres are now 39-40 and hope to complete the two-game sweep on Wednesday to climb back to the .500. mark that they’ve hovered around all month. Matt Strahm (2-6) will face off against Dylan Bundy (3-9), who leads the American League in losses with nine.

With the Los Angeles Dodgers beating the Arizona Diamondbacks on Tuesday, the Padres are tied with Arizona for third place in the National League West. They’re 15 games back of the division lead.

Game 2 will begin at 12:05 p.m. PT/3:05 p.m. ET. For complete coverage of the San Diego Padres’ 2019 season, continue following Friars on Base all season long.