The Padres made it seven in a row Saturday as their hot road trip continued with a 9-4 win in Baltimore.
The Friars benefitted from sloppy early play by the Orioles to build a 4-0 lead before breaking it open in the seventh inning. With one out, Jurickson Profar and Jake Cronenworth singled to bring up Manny Machado, who on an 0-1 count did what he does: slammed a ball into the stands to boost the Friar lead to seven.
But they weren’t done. Xander Bogaerts followed with a triple, and Jackson Merrill promptly hit a sacrifice fly to drive him home. Merrill added another sacrifice fly in the ninth to score Machado, who had singled.
Michael King went 6.1 innings, leaving in the bottom of the seventh after surrendering a walk to Anthony Santander and a single to Heston Kjerstad. Both would score, but Stephen Kolek and Logan GIllespie, who finished the game, had enough of a cushion to preserve the win.
The Padres had more to celebrate than their win streak – Machado also hit a milestone. When the slugger, who started his career in Baltimore, crossed the plate after his homer, he logged his 1,000th RBI.
“I got my first one here,” Machado told MLB.com. . “And I got my thousandth here – it’s crazy.”
Meanwhile, four of the victories during the Friars’ win streak came against first-place teams – two each against the American League West leaders, the Guardians, and the Orioles, up by 1.5 games in the AL East.
“We can compete with anybody,” King told MLB.com.
Randy Vásquez takes the mound Sunday as the Padres close out the road trip. They have an off day Monday before welcoming another first-place club to Petco Park, but this time in their own division – the hated Dodgers.
