The Padres continued their strong road trip with a 9-4 win at Baltimore on Saturday, marking their seventh straight victory.
The Friars took advantage of the Orioles’ early slump to jump out to a 4-0 lead and then expanded that lead in the seventh inning. With one out, Jurickson Profar and Jake Cronenworth each singled to put Manny Machado on base. Machado played his usual game with the count at 0-1, smashing the ball into the stands to extend the Friars’ lead to seven.
But that wasn’t the end of it. Xander Bogaerts followed with a triple, and Jackson Merrill quickly followed with a sacrifice fly to bring Bogaerts home. Merrill also followed with another sacrifice fly in the ninth to bring home Machado, who had singled.
Michael King pitched 6.1 innings, walking Anthony Santander and allowing a single to Heston Kjellstad before leaving the game in the bottom of the seventh. Both pitchers scored, but Steven Kollek and Logan Gillespie finished the game with plenty of time to secure the win.
The Padres also had something to celebrate besides the winning streak: Machado reached a milestone. The slugger, who began his career in Baltimore, hit a home run and then walked off the plate to record his 1,000th RBI.
“I hit my first home run here,” Machado told MLB.com, “and my 1,000th here too. It’s unbelievable.”
Meanwhile, the Friars’ four wins during their winning streak have come against teams in first place, with two wins each against the Guardians, who lead the AL West, and the Orioles, who are 1.5 games up in the AL East.
“We can compete with anybody,” King told MLB.com.
The Padres finish off the road with Randy Vazquez pitching on Sunday, then have an off day on Monday before hosting another team in first place at Petco Park, this time the division underdogs, the Dodgers.
