SAN DIEGO (AP) — Manny Machado homered into the second deck in left field in the fourth inning and then hit a go-ahead, two-run single in the seven-run eighth inning for the San Diego Padres, who beat NL West-leading Los Angeles 8-3 Saturday night to snap a six-game losing streak to the Dodgers.
The Dodgers’ bullpen meltdown was similar to the one by the Padres on Friday night that helped Los Angeles rally for a 10-5 win.
With the Dodgers leading 3-1, Yency Almonte (3-2) loaded the bases with one out and was replaced by Caleb Ferguson. Juan Soto hit an RBI infield single and a throwing error by second baseman Kiké Hernàndez on the play brought in the tying run. Machado then singled to left to bring in two more runs for a 5-3 lead.
Machado was caught in a rundown but ended up on third after a throwing error by Ferguson. Machado was checked by a trainer and manager Bob Melvin said he has hamstring tightness.
The Padres had six singles and three walks while sending 12 batters to the plate in the eighth.
Two innings earlier, Machado tossed his bat in anger and argued with home plate ump John Bacon after taking a called third strike, apparently thinking it was a quick pitch.
“I think he has a pretty good understanding that we needed him in that game,” Melvin said. “Cooler heads prevailed.”
The Padres had some “really big at-bats late in the game when we were behind, which we haven’t seen in a while, too,” Melvin said. “After last night we had to have a much better game today. Even though for a while it didn’t look great, the intensity was there the entire game and we realize we have to have games like this if we’re going to keep moving forward.”
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