SAN DIEGO (AP) — Manny Machado did what he’s done all season in helping to carry the San Diego Padres.
Matt Beaty helped out, too, which came as a relief to the four-year veteran who has struggled with his new team.
Machado got another big hit for the Padres, and Yu Darvish pitched seven strong innings in a 3-2 victory against the skidding Miami Marlins on Friday night.
Machado reached base three times and had two hits, including a critical RBI single as the Padres won for the fourth time in five games while handing the Marlins their sixth straight loss.
The star third baseman gave San Diego a 3-0 lead with his two-out single in the fifth. That run proved to be huge after Darvish gave up Jesús Aguilar’s monster two-run homer to left field in the sixth. It was Aguilar’s third of the season.
Machado lined out to left with two runners on to end the seventh, keeping it a one-run game.
Eric Hosmer and Machado, who led the majors in batting average coming in, combined for San Diego’s first run, sandwiched by three strikeouts from Miami starter Sandy Alcantara in the first. Machado drew a two-out walk and scored on Hosmer’s double to right-center.
The Padres made it 3-0 in the fifth. Trent Grisham hit a leadoff triple and scored on Beaty’s double to right field. Machado’s two-out single brought in Beaty and chased Alcantara.
Hosmer and Machado have carried the Padres in the absence of star shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr., who is out until at least mid-June with a broken left wrist. The Padres are waiting for other starters to heat up.
Beaty, obtained during spring training from the rival Los Angeles Dodgers, came into the game hitting just .086. It was his first RBI of the season.
“It felt great,” said Beaty, who lined his double past Aguilar at first base. “When I hit it I…
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