Good morning from St. Petersburg, Fla.,

After all that happened last night, we are going to go back to the first inning and begin today’s newsletter with Manny Machado’s part in it.

In newsletters earlier this week, we discussed his importance to the Padres based on his offense.

And Machado hit a home run in last night’s second inning as part of a game in which he went 3-for-5 with four RBIs.

He is batting .306 with a .935 OPS over the past 60 games, a span in which the Padres have gone from three games under .500 to 17 games over. They are 22-0 this season when he has multiple RBIs.

His OPS since June 19 is third highest in the National League behind the Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani (1.004) and the Mets’ Francisco Lindor (.936).

Machado talked earlier this week about how much better he is feeling physically, which he reiterated last night.

“I feel pretty good right now, obviously,” said Machado, who has five home runs in his past 50 at-bats and 10 home runs in his past 120 at-bats. “My swing is where it needs to be. My body is feeling great, too. Trying to stay as consistent as I can possibly be. Hopefully, it stays like that. But you know how baseball can be. It’s up and down. So try to keep working.”

His bat is by far the biggest reason will have made more than $450 million over 15 seasons with the Padres by the time his current contract runs out in 2033. His play at third base is also widely celebrated, highly valued and will be factored in when his Hall of Fame case is considered some day.

But in the Padres’ three-run first inning last night — a wonderful baseball sequence I highlighted in my game story (here) — Machado did something that has to be talked about and is the kind of thing that probably should be talked about more.

On Xander Bogaerts’ sacrifice fly to center field that scored Jake Cronenworth from third base, Machado tagged up from first and beat the throw to second.

The hustle paid off when Jackson Merrill singled on the next pitch and Machado scored easily from second.

Scoring Probability? 100% pic.twitter.com/wOTZO0Uoo7

— San Diego Padres (@Padres) August 30, 2024

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The irony is that a player who is derided by many fans and media members for his sometimes-lackadaisical runs to first base does something like what he did last night fairly often.

Machado runs when he has to run. He knows when that is, and he knows how to get an edge — be it with a big lead when appropriate, taking an extra base, stealing a base or even sprinting to try to beat out an infield dribbler.

“He’s legitimately, like honestly, probably the smartest player I’ve ever been around,” Padres third base coach Tim Leiper, who has been in professional baseball since 1985, said recently.

The conviction with which Leiper speaks of Machado’s baseball IQ is something I wish could be properly conveyed in the written word.

“When he’s running by you, you realize how hard he runs and how much ground he covers,” Leiper said. “He knows exactly what he needs to do to get it done, and I trust him every single solitary time.”

Good frame

The Padres have scored nine runs in an inning twice this season. They began one of those with seven consecutive singles, and every one of those players scored. In the other, the first nine batters reached base and all of them scored.

So it might be a stretch to say last night’s three-run first inning was the best example of what the Padres’ offense has been about in 2024.

But it was incredibly aesthetically pleasing.

I wrote about it in my game story. But the details are worth mining further.

It all began with Jurickson Profar getting a piece of a 1-2 splitter from Taj Bradley and fouling it down and into Rays catcher Alex Jackson’s glove. Jackson lifted up his glove to show he had caught the ball, and home plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt started to go into his strikeout motion. But Profar protested the ball had hit the ground. Wendelstedt checked the ball and, seeing dirt, signaled it had been a foul.

Profar lined the next pitch over the second baseman. After Donovan Solano flied out on a drive to the wall in right field, Profar stole second while Cronenworth was up. On a 2-2 count, Cronenworth also went the other way through the hole on the left side against a splitter. Profar only made it to third after holding up because the ball appeared it might be caught by third baseman Junior Caminero.

Machado followed with another single the other way on a full-count splitter, scoring Profar and sending Cronenworth to third.

On his way back to the dugout, Profar spoke briefly with Bogaerts and then Merrill about the action on the splitter, which was not darting down in the zone.

Bogaerts hit a first-pitch cutter to center field — the sacrifice fly on which Machado advanced. The other notable aspect of that play was that Cronenworth sprinted home full speed, not because there was any way he was going to be thrown out, but because he knew he had to get there before Machado was possibly tagged out at second.

Merrill then lined a first-pitch splitter into center field to score Machado.

“It was masterful,” manager Mike Shildt said. “It was really fun. It was good baseball. The whole game, really, from an offensive standpoint, whole way. It’s how we like to compete. … It’s how the game is supposed to be played.”

Closing in

Machado’s homer was his 161st with the Padres, tying him with Adrián González and leaving him two behind Nate Colbert for most in franchise history.

“That’s huge,” Machado said when asked about pulling even with González, who played for the Padres from 2006-10 and was an Eastlake High graduate. “I mean, obviously, a San Diego great. To be on that list in such a short period of time is awesome. To be on that same level is an honor for sure.”

On the MLB all-time home run list, Machado’s 336th career homer moved him out of a tie with Darryl Strawberry and Robinson Canó and into a tie for 113th with Joe Adcock.

The ‘W’

Martín Pérez allowed four runs in the second inning and later seemed he was one batter away from being removed on two occasions. But he earned the decision by getting through five innings.

Pérez, who was 2-5 with a 5.20 ERA in 16 starts for the Pirates, is now 2-0 with a 3.41 ERA with the Padres.

The Padres have won all six of his starts, though the past three have been nothing like the first three.

First three: 18⅓ innings, 11 H, 4 R, 3 BB, 21 K, 4 HR

Past three:  13⅓ innings, 18 H, 8 R, 7 BB,  7 K, 3 HR

The mechanical changes Pérez touted early have wavered some, and it is possible opponents are picking up on the pitch mix he also held up as a reason for his improved results.

He explained last night, too, that the mound at Tropicana Field had an uncomfortable landing spot for him.

But there must be some credit for him getting through three scoreless innings on 48 pitches while allowing four base runners after it took him 53 pitches and he allowed six baserunners (and the four runs) in the first two innings.

“I was able to compete,” Pérez said. “When you don’t have your best stuff, you gotta go out there and compete. I gave five innings to my team. I was able to stop them, and we scored a lot of runs and won the game.”

Tidbits

• The four runs the Padres scored in the second inning was the 45th time they have scored at least that many runs in an inning this season, most in the majors and second most in any season in team history. They are five shy of tying the team record set in 2001.
• The Padres have gone first to third on a single 105 times this season, most in the majors.
• Last night was the fourth time the Padres scored 13 runs this season and the first since June 8. It was two shy of their season-high 15 runs against the Dodgers on March 21 in Seoul, South Korea.
• Profar reached base five times in six plate appearances last night. He followed his first-inning single with four walks to up his NL-leading on-base percentage to .384.
• Machado took over the team lead with 83 RBIs, three more than Profar. It is the first time Machado has led the team in RBIs since he was tied with Cronenworth with seven on March 31.
• Luis Campusano singled and walked twice. It was his third game this season with two walks and his first since May 25. Campusano entered last night’s game with a 35.7 percent chase rate but chased just two of 11 pitches (18 percent) outside the zone last night and has chased just five of the past 25 pitches (20 percent) he has seen outside the zone.
• David Peralta was 2-for-3 with a home run last night. He is batting .355 with a 1.000 OPS in his past 20 games (67 plate appearances).
• Merrill was 2-for-5 last night and has reached base in all but one of his past 15 games, a span in which he has batted .333 (19-for-57) with three doubles, two triples and three home runs. I wrote yesterday (here) about why the Padres have not moved him up past sixth in the batting order.
• One of those reasons is Shildt’s belief in Bogaerts, who has been slumping lately. Bogaerts was 1-for-3 with a homer and a walk last night and is batting .243 with a .301 OBP over his past 21 games. The homer was his first in 49 at-bats and his second in 108 at-bats.
• Machado, who played for the Orioles from 2012 to 2018, has pretty outstanding numbers at all of the American League East ballparks — except Tropicana Field. His big game last night improved his batting average in 54 games there to .196, and his home run was his second in 209 at-bats inside the funky dome.
• Yu Darvish, who has not pitched since May 29 while on the injured list and restricted list, threw 66 pitches in a “controlled” game against Reds minor leaguers last night at the Peoria Sports Complex. He faced 18 batters in four innings. According to the Padres, Darvish reported “feeling well after the outing.” The next step could be a rehab start, though an immediate return to the rotation has not been ruled out.
• Sean Reynolds threw 1⅔ scoreless innings last night (with help from Jeremiah Estrada stranding two inherited runners). Reynolds has not allowed a run in his past six outings (8⅓ innings). The rookie has allowed just one run in 11 innings (nine games) this season.

All right, that’s it for me. Earlier game (1:10 p.m. PT) today.

Talk to you tomorrow. Maybe. I probably need to take one of these next two nights off from the newsletter so I can catch up on some other work.

Regardless, we will have our usual coverage on our Padres page, and I will send out a Padres Daily at least two of the next three days.

P.S. If you are reading this online, please know there is an easier way to get the Padres Daily. And it is free! Sign up here to have it emailed to your inbox the morning after (almost) every game.