Jogging up the first base line in the fourth inning, Manny Machado tracked the 99 mph ball off his bat as it arched toward the short porch in right field.
The 34-year-old veteran peered into his dugout after it cleared the wall, raising his right index finger toward a pink-and-navy Picasso sky as he reached first base.
Machado’s 30th home run was hardly the hardest ball hit Saturday night.
It was, however, the most impactful hit in a back-and-forth, 10-7 win that will allow the Padres to keep their suitcases in the closet a few days longer.
The NL Wild Card Series is returning to Petco Park.
“These guys bring it every single year,” Machado said of hosting playoff games for the first time since the 2024 NLDS. “So come home and play how we always play in front of them. It’s always great. So to come and start a postseason and start a run here at home, you know, definitely exciting for sure.”
The home-cooking has definitely been a difference-maker in 2026.
After all, the Padres were 50-53 before their offense and incredible home record supercharged a turnaround that resulted in the team’s third straight 90-win season and the seventh overall in franchise history.
Instead of settling for an unprecedented third straight postseason berth and a plane ticket for a best-of-three series on the other side of the country, the Padres jumped seven teams to lead the NL’s wild-card contingent for the second time in three years.
On Tuesday, they’ll host the Cubs — who are locked into the No. 5 seed after the Phillies lost a fourth straight game Saturday — in a rematch of last year’s NL Wild Card Series at Wrigley Field.
The Padres lost that series in three games.
What a difference a sellout crowd like Saturday’s throng of 44,698 yellow-towel-twirling fans could make in a venue in which the team has won 50 of its 80 games so far this year.
“I think the biggest thing,” second baseman Jake Cronenworth said, “is they’ll show up all year for us, whether it’s a Wednesday day game in June or a night like tonight, opening day. They’re always here supporting us, and they’ve been awesome. Can’t wait to play in front of them.”
Photos: Padres beat Diamondbacks, 10-7
A lot has certainly gone right this year in the Gaslamp district, as was the case a day after a clunker to open the series against a hair-on-fire Diamondbacks team that can still track down the Phillies on Sunday for the No. 6 seed.
Xander Bogaerts hit his 13th homer to continue a resurgent September (.847 OPS), the Padres scored in five of the first six innings and the Padres’ bullpen threw 4⅔ scoreless innings after a shaky start from Walker Buehler (3⅔ IP, 4 R, 3 ER).
In fact, the game turned in the top of the fifth inning when Bradgley Rodriguez got an inning-ending double play to start two scoreless innings and make sure the Diamondbacks did not answer Machado’s blast in what had been a back-and-forth game to that point.
Rookie catcher Ethan Salas’ throwing error on a back-pick erased the 1-0 lead afforded by Jackson Merrill’s first-inning single. Gabriel Moreno’s run-scoring single in the third gave Arizona a lead and James McCann’s two-run homer in the fourth answered the two runs the Padres scored in the third when a picturesque baseball sky gave Diamondbacks outfielders trouble with fly balls.
A half-inning later, reliever José Cabrera — one of seven arms thrown in Arizona’s bullpen game — could not cleanly glove the 100 mph comebacker from Salas, one of the 20-year-old’s two hits in the game. Fernando Tatis Jr. followed with a walk and Machado lifted a three-run homer over the wall in right for what proved to be the game-winner and a monumental homer for his resume.
The blast gave Machado at least 30 homers for the eighth time in his career. The only other active players who have done that are Kyle Schwarber and Nolan Arenado, while 20 of the 39 players to log at least eight 30-homer seasons are in the Hall of Fame.
Four of those seasons have come as a Padre, matching Adrian Gonzalez for the most in franchise history.
“It’s a special thing, man,” Buehler said of his veteran third baseman. “I think there was times that he was probably a top-three player in the world, right? And to do it when he was hitting .280 and doing all the stuff and whatever. But I think probably more impressive this year when it hasn’t gone his way as much as he would like, and he still goes out there and drives in runs and helps our team. I think super symbolic for him that it’s a huge homer for us.
“He’s the leader of our team, and super happy for him that the 30 was that big of a homer.”
Tatis added an RBI groundout after Bogaerts’ home run in the fifth inning and Jake Cronenworth drove in two runs in the sixth with a single to open a 10-4 lead that was well protected even with Mason Miller coughing up three runs after entering with a six-run lead in a postseason tune-up.
With runners on second and third, Ildemaro Vargas struck out representing the tying run to end the game and secure home-field advantage.
“Guys played great today, and they’ve had a great season,” said Padres manager Craig Stammen, the team’s first rookie skipper to guide his team to 90 wins. “And we’re rewarded getting to play a couple playoff games at home. So we’re excited about that. We don’t have to pack our bags (Sunday), and we can enjoy this one, and then get ready for the playoffs.”