Padres News: Manny Machado Felt Good Returning the Favor to the Dodgers
A night after letting the Dodgers score 8 runs over the final two innings, the Padres got their revenge in the 8th with a 7 run explosion keyed by clutch hits and embarrassing LA errors.
It was everything this team has been searching for all season long. For Manny Machado, returning the favor to the Dodgers only added to the sweetness.
“It’s just a big game, coming back,” Machado said. “Last night we’re ahead, they came back, have the big inning and scratched their way through to a win. Then tonight, being down the whole way and then the script flips. It was a good inning for us."
After the low of having Mookie Betts dance on Manny at third base, things turned around quickly for San Diego.
“Some really big at-bats late in the game when we were behind, which we haven’t seen in a while,” Padres manager Bob Melvin said. “Look, after (Friday) night, we had to have a much better game today. I think even though for a while it didn’t look great, the intensity was there the entire game, and we realize that we’re gonna have to have games like this if we’re going to keep moving forward.”
The Padres took advantage of misplays and capitalized on mistakes, a mark of all good teams. That hasn't always been the case with this ballclub this season. On Saturday, something looked a little different in that 8th inning. As Machado said, the team played all 27 outs and now the series is tied at one apeice with two to play.
Tonight's game is on ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball.
