Manny Machado’s two-run double completed a four-run eighth inning rally and helped the visiting San Diego Padres overcome a five-run deficit to beat the Atlanta Braves 6-5 in the first game of a doubleheader on Monday.
Jake Cronenworth began the uprising with a two-run bases-loaded single and Machado followed with a double that drove in the tying and go-ahead run against reliever Joe Jimenez (1-1).
The Padres have won the first three games of the four-game series. Atlanta has lost four straight.
The winning pitcher was Jhony Brito (1-2). Jeremiah Estrada pitched a scoreless eighth and Robert Suarez worked a perfect ninth to earn his 13th save.
Neither starting pitcher received a decision. Atlanta’s Reynaldo Lopez pitched 6 1/3 innings and allowed two runs on five hits, one walk and four strikeouts. San Diego’s Dylan Cease lasted only four innings — his shortest outing of the season — and allowed five runs on a season-high nine hits, three walks and five strikeouts.
Atlanta scored twice in the first to take its first lead of the series, as Matt Olson and Michael Harris II both had RBI singles.
The Braves batted around and made it 5-0 in the third inning when Marcell Ozuna and Olson delivered back-to-back solo home runs. Ozuna’s 13th homer also extended his hitting streak to 12 games. Olson’s homer was his sixth of the season.
The other run came on an infield single by Ronald Acuna Jr. with the bases loaded. San Diego second baseman Xander Bogaerts injured his left shoulder on the play when he had to range far to his left to make a diving stop. Bogaerts exited the game.
San Diego got its first run in the fifth inning when Manny Machado doubled and scored on Jackson Merrill’s one-out infield grounder. Merrill followed with an RBI single in the seventh to make it a 5-2 game.
San Diego’s Luis Arraez singled in the first inning to extend his streak of consecutive games reaching base to 23, the longest active streak in the major leagues.
–Field Level Media