MILWAUKEE -- Manny Machado is heating up and the Padres are reaping the benefits.
The Padres star third baseman hit a late-inning home run for the second time to bookend the three-game series against the Brewers with a pair of victories.
His latest blast, leading off the seventh against Brewers reliever Rob Zastryzny, accounted for the lone run in the Padres’ 1-0 win in Sunday afternoon’s rubber match at American Family Field. Zastryzny had replaced starter Freddy Peralta, who held the Padres to one hit through six innings.
Mere days earlier, Machado’s solo home run in the eighth on Friday night provided much-needed insurance in a 2-0 win.
“That’s a good starting pitching staff over there,” Machado said. “They pinpointed, mixed it up. Pitched really well. I got two mistakes [this series] and I took advantage.”
Machado has 10 homers on the season, with seven of them coming in the past 16 games -- during which he is slashing .355/.406/.726 with 13 RBIs. Machado had just three homers in his first 48 games this season.
Sunday marked the 29th time in franchise history the Padres won a game 1-0, with the only run a homer. The last time it happened was April 19, 2023, vs. Atlanta (Juan Soto). The last time it happened on the road was Aug. 27, 2016, at Miami (Ryan Schimpf).
With Sunday’s homer, Machado also became only the second Padres player with seven straight double-digit home-run seasons, joining Dave Winfield (1974-80).
“I say he’s in a good place, but Manny’s just good, right?” manager Mike Shildt said. “I just love the way he’s approaching his at-bats.”
Machado’s also getting it done with the glove, coming through with a potentially game-saving play in the fifth inning.
Padres rookie Ryan Bergert had faced the minimum through four innings while holding the Brewers hitless. After striking out William Contreras to start the fifth, Bergert walked Sal Frelick and then gave up his first hit of the game, a single to Rhys Hoskins. With runners on the corners, Bergert got out of the jam on a stellar defensive play by Machado, who fielded a shot down the line at third and rifled a seemingly effortless throw to first to nail a hustling Caleb Durbin.
“He hit it down the line. I kind of cheated knowing what pitch was coming, knowing he was going to be out in front of it a little bit,” Machado said. “I kind of got lucky that he hit it where I was leaning towards. I made a good throw and Sheetsy [Gavin Sheets] made a nice stretch. That was a key moment, for sure.”
Durbin had been hoping for a different outcome.
“I was like, 'That's not an easy play,'" Durbin said. "But I knew who was playing there."
Machado came up big for the Padres in the series, much to the chagrin of Brewers fans, who booed him incessantly each and every at-bat, as they have for the past seven seasons. He became Milwaukee's postseason villain following a collision with Brewers first baseman Jesus Aguilar in Game 4 of the 2018 National League Championship Series at Dodger Stadium, and Milwaukee fans haven’t forgotten.
“Sometimes I feel bad about him,” Peralta said. “I know he probably doesn’t care, but it’s been, like, seven years, and I think he apologized already. But you know how it is. If they don’t like him, they’re going to keep doing it. I know he’s a good guy -- a good person, too. He tries to help people around [the game]. But he’s not welcome here.”
Peralta retired 13 consecutive batters, starting with an inning-ending double play in the first, before giving up a leadoff single to Tyler Wade in the sixth. Peralta allowed one hit in six scoreless innings.
“It’s a really good lineup from the leadoff to the [end],” Peralta said. “They have a lot of abilities to make you make more pitches than normal, they don’t strike out a lot, they try to put the ball in play and they have power hitters, too.”
The Padres got a strong outing from Bergert, making his second career start. He gave up one hit and no runs in 5 1/3 innings.
“I made pitches when I needed,” said Bergert, ranked by MLB Pipeline as the Padres' No. 21 prospect. “Today, I was executing things a little bit better than the last start.”
The Padres bullpen came through with another stellar effort as five relievers combined for 3 2/3 scoreless innings, including Robert Suarez notching his 21st save.
“There should be a pause and appreciation for this road trip,” Shildt said. “You talk about grinding. Six one-run games, one two-run game. Guys playing a little banged up. Facing some really good pitching. Playoff-type baseball.”