Photos: Padres beat Diamondbacks, 10-7<\/a><\/p>\nA 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.<\/p>\n
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\u2019 bullpen threw 4\u2154 scoreless innings after a shaky start from Walker Buehler (3\u2154 IP, 4 R, 3 ER).<\/p>\n
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\u2019s blast in what had been a back-and-forth game to that point.<\/p>\n
Rookie catcher Ethan Salas\u2019 throwing error on a back-pick erased the 1-0 lead afforded by Jackson Merrill\u2019s first-inning single. Gabriel Moreno\u2019s run-scoring single in the third gave Arizona a lead and James McCann\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
A half-inning later, reliever Jos\u00e9 Cabrera \u2014 one of seven arms thrown in Arizona\u2019s bullpen game \u2014 could not cleanly glove the 100 mph comebacker from Salas, one of the 20-year-old\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Four of those seasons have come as a Padre, matching Adrian Gonzalez for the most in franchise history.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a special thing, man,\u201d Buehler said of his veteran third baseman. \u201cI 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\u2019t 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\u2019s a huge homer for us.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s the leader of our team, and super happy for him that the 30 was that big of a homer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tatis added an RBI groundout after Bogaerts\u2019 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.<\/p>\n
With runners on second and third, Ildemaro Vargas struck out representing the tying run to end the game and secure home-field advantage.<\/p>\n
\u201cGuys played great today, and they\u2019ve had a great season,\u201d said Padres manager Craig Stammen, the team\u2019s first rookie skipper to guide his team to 90 wins. \u201cAnd we\u2019re rewarded getting to play a couple playoff games at home. So we\u2019re excited about that. We don\u2019t have to pack our bags (Sunday), and we can enjoy this one, and then get ready for the playoffs.\u201d<\/p>\n
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