Padres' Manny Machado responds with conviction in 4-hit tirade after Cardinals drama

Manny Machado let his game do the talking. Following some heated back-and-forth theatrics on Saturday against the St. Louis Cardinals that caused a second benches-clearing brawl, Machado popped off on Sunday for one of his best performances of the season.

The Padres superstar was hit by a second pitch on Saturday at Busch Stadium, igniting an ugly argument between Machado and Cards' assistant coach Jon Jay, who used to be very close friends with the Friars' third baseman. All eyes were on the Padres-Cardinals on Sunday, as St. Louis was looking to nab the series win in a four-game slate.

Machado had other plans, firing off a 4-for-5 ball game with a pair of doubles and three RBIs in San Diego's 9-2 victory to tie the series.

Padres' Manny Machado puts together exclamation game to get last laugh with Cardinals

As if Machado wasn't already having a marvelous series, it was poetic justice for him to muscle his second four-hit game of the 2025 campaign. Machado batted 11-for-17 this series with three doubles, one home run, five RBIs, and two hit by pitches.

Machado is now riding a five-game hitting, flexing 13 hits over the span to inflate his season slash line to .300/.360/.506.

He is also batting .326 in July after logging a .333 average in March, then a .340 line in May. He's come up big every month this season, which could hopefully spark the rest of the lineup to conitnue producing alongside him.

Entering Monday, San Diego is 57-49 in the standings, which is currently good enough to give them the last spot in the NL Wild Card race. The Friars have a six-game home stand against the New York Mets, and of course, the Cardinals return for another series against them.

Hopefully, Machado's leadership and offensive outburst can get the rest of the team going as the Padres are on the brink of a legitimate postseason push. Maybe the newfound rival with St. Louis will add some more fuel to begin August on a good note with a potential series win.