SAN DIEGO (AP) — Manny Machado and Brian O’Grady each homered and had three RBIs to lead the San Diego Padres over the Chicago Cubs 9-4 on Monday night in the opener of a three-game series between National League contenders.
Machado hit a solo home run and two sacrifice flies. O’Grady, just recalled from the minors, had a two-run homer and an RBI single.
Ryan Weathers (3-2) lasted five innings for the win, giving up three runs and five hits while striking out four.
“I felt really good. I just have to get back to throwing strikes,” Weathers said. “I felt my slider was good the whole time. … Fastball command is the thing that needs to get better.”
Chicago starter Adbert Alzolay (4-5) left in the fourth with a blister on his right middle finger after walking leadoff batter Tommy Pham, who reached base four times. An athletic trainer and manager David Ross came out to talk with Alzolay briefly before he headed for the dugout. He threw 82 pitches in three-plus innings, giving up four runs, five hits and five walks.
“He has been dealing with it for a little while now. Hopefully, we will know more tomorrow,” Ross said. “We took him out. … It was something I didn’t want him to push through and make worse.”
Ross said the blister was drained after the game and Alzolay was feeling some relief.
“In the second inning is when I started feeling it the most. The sinker and hard slider — those were the two pitches when I felt it the most,” Alzolay said. “Everything else is feeling good — my body and arm. It was the blister that got me.”
The Padres got single runs in the first and second against Alzolay, who worked out of jams in both innings. With the bases loaded and no outs in the first, the Padres managed only one run on Eric Hosmer’s groundout. In the second they had runners…
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