He's heating up! Machado hits go-ahead homer in extras on 5-RBI day

ARLINGTON -- Padres manager Craig Stammen has shuffled his lineup all season trying to light a fire under his stalled offense, but one guy has stayed put even amid a career-worst season.

“I trust Manny Machado,” Stammen said after the Padres’ 6-4 victory over the Rangers in 10 innings on Saturday at Globe Life Field.

Machado has done enough over 15 seasons to earn some grace. And on Saturday, the trust was rewarded fivefold. He drove in five runs with two extra-base hits, including a decisive three-run homer in the 10th inning.

In their past two games, the Padres, who average an MLB-worst 3.8 runs a game, have collected 13 runs on 19 hits.

Who says the Padres can’t score runs?

“In key situations when I'm up there, you still have to be afraid,” Machado said. “I can do damage like I did today. I have all the confidence in the world that I'm going to be good. To have your manager put you up there every single day in the lineup, obviously you want to do the best for him. So you keep battling, you keep trying to get out of things, and that's what I do every single day. I come in here, try to work, and try to get out of it.”

Adrian Morejon (6-1) earned the victory in relief, striking out five over two shutout innings. Mason Miller, in his first game back from bereavement leave, earned his 20th save for the 39-36 Padres, who are fighting to stay in the NL Wild Card race.

Machado’s double in the third scored Fernando Tatis Jr. Machado was credited with another RBI on a groundout in the Padres’ game-tying two-run eighth.

With Tatis on second base to start the 10th, Samad Taylor walked, setting up Machado, who drove a 2-0 pitch into the left-center-field seats. Joe Ross, who took the loss for the Rangers, was having trouble throwing strikes.

“When [Machado] went on deck, I slapped him on the butt and said, ‘Do it like you've done it a million times’ because he has done it a million times,' Stammen said. “We've come to expect Manny to do that every single time that he comes to the plate and that's unrealistic, but he's had the career he's had, he is the person that he is, he has the confidence in himself that is undeniable and that makes him believe in those situations he's the best man at the plate.”

Right-hander Walker Buehler gave up one run over 5 1/3 innings in his 15th start of the season. Entering the game, he had seemed to find a groove, giving up only three runs and four walks in 15 2/3 innings. Hitters, however, were still making plenty of contact (18 hits).

Contact wasn’t an issue for Buehler through five innings on Saturday, though, allowing just three hits. The sixth is when he began to unravel, with Josh Jung lining a scorcher to left-center field for a one-out double. Wyatt Langford then blistered a pitch to left that Taylor had to go a long way to field for an RBI double.

Stammen came to get Buehler, who lowered his ERA to 3.96. Lefty Kyle Hart was brought in to navigate the dustup, striking out Brandon Nimmo and inducing a groundout from Ezequiel Duran to strand Langford at second base.

“[Buehler] just gets us off to a good start,” Stammen said. “He's been very good early in games and allows us to get our offense going a little bit and give them a chance to score runs. He's not giving up very many hits. He's not walking anybody, he's getting ahead. He's just very efficient. He's pitching with a lot of confidence.”

Four Padres relievers combined to allow three runs (two earned) on four hits over 4 2/3 innings, striking out 10. The only slip belonged to righty Jason Adam, who gave up a two-run homer to Jake Burger in the seventh.

But down 3-1, the Padres battled back in the eighth.

Tatis doubled to start the inning, moved to third when Taylor hit a sacrifice bunt and reached on an error, and scored on Machado’s groundout. With two outs, Jackson Merrill, who had three hits, singled home Taylor from third to tie the game.