SAN DIEGO -- Manny Machado homered, but Michael King struggled as the Padres dropped their series finale against the Dodgers, 4-2, on Sunday afternoon.
Here’s some instant reaction from Petco Park, where San Diego dropped the final two games of its homestand after starting 4-0:
The Padres needed more from King
The burden on King -- amid the current plight of the Padres’ rotation -- is probably an unfair one. King has been the team’s best starter all season. He’s allowed to endure a rough stretch.
Except, the Padres can’t really afford that right now. Aside from King, Walker Buehler has been solid. But the other three-fifths of the rotation? Full of major question marks due to injuries and underperformance. Additionally, San Diego’s starters are not eating nearly enough innings, leaving the bullpen to cover an outsized workload.
So when King has an outing like this one, it hurts.
King lasted just 4 1/3 innings on Sunday afternoon and unraveled in the fifth. He surrendered only one hit in the frame -- Mookie Betts’ two-run single. But he walked three and plunked Andy Pages with two strikes.
“He just kind of lost the strike zone,” said manager Craig Stammen.
“Mechanical breakdown,” said King. “I’ve got to do a little dive into that and see where it went wrong.”
One pitch the Padres want back
That fateful fifth inning could’ve gone a whole lot differently had the Padres challenged King’s 3-2 pitch to Freddie Freeman. With one out and the bases loaded, Freeman turned in the at-bat of the game, working back from an 0-2 hole to force the count full.
King’s ninth pitch to Freeman was a changeup that appeared to clip the inside corner at the knees. But King missed his intended spot by so much that catcher Rodolfo Durán had to lunge for the baseball.
In other words: It didn’t look like a strike. But it probably was. And after the game, King and Durán were kicking themselves for not challenging.
“Set up away, missed in -- it’s hard for a catcher to realize,” King said. “From my vantage point, I feel like I can see it better. It went through my head to challenge it, but I wasn’t fully committed to it. … Then I thought about it later to be like: 3-2, bases loaded, even if I’m wrong, the team’s probably not mad at me for challenging that one. So, yeah, that’s going to eat at me.”
Durán acknowledged losing his sense of the zone because of his lunge. He thought the pitch was low. But he was nonetheless quick to take responsibility for not challenging.
“That’s on me,” Durán said. “I need to do a better job with it.”
Freeman’s walk gave the Dodgers a lead they wouldn’t relinquish, and Betts followed with a two-run single.
“Glad he didn’t call it,” Freeman said.
Manny’s heating up
Machado still owns the lowest qualifying batting average (.188) in the Major Leagues. But batting average only tells so much of the story.
Machado has been so much better at the plate lately -- delivering some very big hits and some very timely hits. He’s slugging, he’s working walks, and his OPS is now .664. That’s an uptick of 78 points in the last three weeks.
“I’m staying consistent with my at-bats,” Machado said. “Staying consistent and not giving [anything] away.”
Machado notched his 15th home run and his 15th double of the season on Sunday afternoon. His game-tying solo shot in the fourth inning marked the 26th of his career against the Dodgers -- four more than he’s hit against any other opponent.
In the eighth, Machado laced a leadoff double against Dodgers reliever Tanner Scott, turning on an inside slider.
“You can just see his swing is back to the old Manny swing,” Stammen said. “That swing he took off Scott -- line drive down the left-field line -- man, that swing was pretty.”
Machado’s double sparked what briefly looked like a rally. Ty France was hit by a pitch, putting the tying runs on base with nobody out. But Xander Bogaerts struck out, and Miguel Andujar bounced into an inning-ending double play. There are clearly still major concerns about this offense. But right now, Machado isn’t one of them.
The NL West deficit is now double digits
In June 2024, the Padres trailed the Dodgers by 10 games in the National League West. By the end of the season, they’d narrowed that gap significantly, and entered the final week in control of their own destiny ahead of a series at Dodger Stadium.
In 2025, the Padres trailed by nine games in early July. Within a month and a half, they’d stormed back and grabbed the division lead by mid-August.
As such, they’ll gladly take a 4-2 homestand against the Braves and Dodgers, two of the best teams in the National League. No matter how the week ended.
“Great homestand,” Machado said. “Obviously, this series didn’t turn out like we wanted. But we played some good baseball. … It was a good week for us at home.”