Wildfires in the Pacific Northwest pushed this weekend's series between the Padres and Mariners from Seattle to San Diego. So, for the first time since their jewel of a ballpark opened in 2004 the Friars batted first at Petco Park.
They can score doing that, too.
Manny Machado hit a pair of home runs to back a resurgent Chris Paddack in a 6-1 win on Friday night. The win means the Padres can, indeed, clinch their first playoff spot in 14 years if things keep going well this weekend.
The Padres led 2-0 in the 4th inning when Machado hit a 3-run bomb, his 15th of the season. With teammate Fernando Tatis Jr. in the longest offensive slump of his young career, Manny may have ripped the National League MVP award for himself.
In the 8th inning Machado hammered a solo blast. After scuffling in the first year of a $300 million contract Manny has spent most of 2020 looking like the kind of player who lives up to that big of a deal.
On the mound Paddack went 6.0 shutout innings and allowed just one hit. He was certainly well-rested. The Sheriff left his last start after just two innings after spraining his ankle then got an extra two days between outings to make sure it was healed up. If he looks this good in his next start he'll likely join Mike Clevinger and Dinelson Lamet in the Padres post-season starting rotation.
On Saturday it's Clevinger's turn on the bump. He'll get the start against Mariners rookie Justus Sheffield.
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