Connect with us

Baseball

Machado Home Run Continued To Set The Tone

Flushing, NY — Manny Machado got hold of a Max Scherzer four-seamer in the fifth inning Friday night at Citi Field. The line drive to left went over the center field wall and that continued to set a tone for the Padres throughout the night.

That was the second of four home runs for the Padres, four off of Scherzer, as they cruised to a 7-1 win over the Mets in the best 2-of-3 National League Wild Card Series.

But this night was not in the cards for the Mets in their first postseason game since 2016 since losing a one-game elimination in the NL Wild Card against the San Francisco Giants. Though, for Machado and the Padres, the win enabled them to place the Mets in a must-win situation Saturday night. A loss, and the Mets go home after winning 101 regular season games.

Then again, these are the Padres, and Yu Darvish was on the mound, his 8th career start in the playoffs. Two 38-year-olds on the mound, and Darvish once again got the win over Scherzer. On the same mound on July 22 at Citi Field, Darvish went seven innings, allowing one run on four hits with nine strikeouts.

“We knew we were going into one of the best pitchers in the game,” Machado said. “Whenever you can do that off an ace, especially on the road, it’s huge. It was a good game all around. At the end of the day, right now, it’s about winning ball games.”

It was the seventh career postseason home run for Machado, sixth since 2018, which tied him with Cody Bellinger and Chris Taylor, sixth-most during that span for a National League player.

Machado, 1-for-4, has learned to come up huge in postseason play. But facing Scherzer — up until Friday night — has always been a task for him and others in October. The Padres had those aggressive at-bats, and the tone was set.

Photo Credit: Bill Menzel/ Latino Sports

“It’s going to take all of us to win,” he said. “I think everyone knows who Darvish is, what he has done in the postseason. “We get a chance every time he takes the mound.”

The Mets, on the other hand, were looking at Scherzer to start the series and now they hand the ball to deGrom Saturday night. Even Machado will admit that Scherzer has been a postseason ace and knows how to attack the strike zone.

Except on this night, Machado and the Padres were able to attack that zone which caused Scherzer not to have one of those memorable postseason starts. For the Mets, it was their fourth straight postseason loss and for the first time in club history dating back to Game 4 of the 2015 World Series loss to the Kansas City Royals.

Photo Credit: George Napolitano/ Latino Sports

“You know he’s going to attack the zone,” Machado commented about Scherzer. “He’s a good pitcher. Obviously, we were able to tack early on and get good pitches and take advantage of it. You just got to go out there and get a good swing on it. I had a good at-bat there.”

Machado said about his home run that once again hushed a sellout crowd of 41,621, “I definitely set the tone and gave Darvish the lead and pitch with the lead.”

Photo Credit: George Napolitano/ Latino Sports

That tone and a possible sweep of this brief series could offer more momentum for a Padres team that went 4-2 against the Mets in the regular season, winning both series. The Padres’ Wild Card appearance is their first trip to the postseason in a full 162-game season since 2006.

“We know it’s a good team, and no lead is safe,” Machado said about the Mets. “They won 101 games. “Ultimately, we played our game and tried to get as many runs as we could. Our goal every game is to keep getting good at-bats.”

And those were good at-bats Friday night. Can the Padres get the sweep and move on? Will Machado and his team get the same at-bats against a struggling deGrom, who gave up three home runs in a first-place division battle with the Braves last weekend?

“We got the first win,” Machado said. “Obviously, we have to continue playing our game. We’re gonna get some runs and pitch with the lead.”

Photo Credit: Bill Menzel/ Latino Sports

Rich Mancuso is a senior writer @Latinosports.com.

Twitter@Ring786 Facebook.com

Watch “Sports with Rich” live on Tuesday Nights at 10pm EST on The SLG Network/Youtube with Robert Rizzo

Available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify under The SLG Network.

Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Advertisement

Facebook

Latest Article

More in Baseball