Manny Machado finishes 0-for-4, fans three times

The three balls in play in the 108-110 mph were all grounders and actually produced four outs, since one turned into a double play. But hitting the ball that hard still works to Machado’s advantage, since he’s usually only jogged three or four steps out of the box when he’s retired and thus has a shorter trip back to the dugout.

Machado doubled in the first inning to drive in the first run of the game before scoring on a base hit by Jackson Merrill. With the bases loaded in the second inning, he drove in two more with a single. Machado’s third hit of the game in the sixth would give him a fourth RBI. The 34-year-old third baseman is hitting .213/.295/.429 with 23 homers, 58 runs scored, and 69 RBI across 472 plate appearances, though he’s come around over the last month with a .276 batting average and seven homers since the start of July.

Machado’s home run was his 23rd of the season. He hit a two-run game-tying home run off Marlins reliever Lake Bachar in the eighth inning. Machado is in the midst of a down year, but he raised his average to .210 with the two-hit effort. It’s the mark of a great player that even in an off-season Machado will still make a run at 30 home runs and 100 RBI.

Machado is still hitting just .204. but he’s now tied for 11th in the majors in homers and for 28th with 59 RBI. Even if this winds up being the worst season of his career, he’ll probably get to 30 homers an eighth time and maybe to 100 RBI for a fifth time.

Machado’s home run was his 20th of the season. He hit a solo shot off Bryce Elder in the fourth inning. Machado had been 0-for-9 with four walks in three games since the All-Star break entering Monday. Machado is in the midst of one of the most difficult seasons of his career as he raised his averaged to .201 on the season with the two-hit effort Monday.

Machado, who certainly isn’t used to coming out of non-blowouts, was lifted for a pinch-runner after the single, which proved to be key. The next batter, Gavin Sheets, hit a grounder to shortstop Andrés Giménez against a shifted infield. Second baseman Ernie Clement, pulled over towards first, decided against trying to beat the pinch-runner, Jace Bowen, to second base, and the Jays settled for the out at first. Had Machado been running, there’s little doubt the Padres would have retired him. Bowen, though, went on to steal third and score the go-ahead run on Ty France’s sac fly. The three-hit game was Machado’s first since April and just his second of the year. It raised his average from .196 to .203, making this the first time since May 7 that he’s finished a game over the Mendoza Line. Since bottoming out at .166 last month, he’s hit .279 with eight homers and 23 RBI in his last 30 games.

The superstar third baseman was held out of action on Wednesday due to soreness in his foot after fouling a ball off of it during Tuesday’s game. It appears all is good now though, as he’s right back at the hot corner and batting cleanup against Diamondbacks’ right-hander Merrill Kelly on Thursday evening in San Diego.

Padres manager Craig Stammen told reporters X-rays came back negative on Machado’s foot after fouling a ball off it during Tuesday’s contest at Petco Park. The 34-year-old receives an extremely rare day off with Sung-Mun Song taking over at the hot corner in his absence. Fantasy managers should consider him day-to-day for now. He’s endured an abysmal first half at the plate by his usual standards, slashing .188/.282/.404 with 18 homers, 51 RBI and two steals in 374 plate appearances through 89 games.

Machado was intentionally walked with two on and two out in the fifth, after which Jack Dreyer got Gavin Sheets to ground out. He came up again with two on in the seventh, but this time there was a righty in the game, no base open and one out. He was pitched to, and he homered just over the wall in center on an 0-2 middle-middle fastball from Kyle Hurt. It was Machado’s fourth homer in eight games and sixth in 14 games.

Machado has three homers and four doubles in his last eight games. He’s still batting just .189 for the year, but things are getting better.