SAN DIEGO -- The Padres pulled off perhaps their most dramatic win of the year on Friday -- but followed it with a dud of a 5-1 loss to the Yankees on Saturday night.
Here’s some instant reaction from Petco Park:
Not Ray’s day
Robbie Ray has made a career of working around traffic. For years, he’s been one of the best in baseball at escaping trouble -- usually trouble of his own making. He’d done it expertly since his arrival in San Diego at last month’s Trade Deadline.
But not on Saturday night. Ray labored during a four-run second inning, surrendering all four runs with two outs. He gave up another in the third and wouldn’t complete the frame. In total, he allowed five runs over 2 1/3 innings, his shortest start in more than two years.
Again, Ray had been mostly solid since joining the Padres. But this was an example of the downside. He routinely puts himself in trouble with a high walk rate and high pitch counts. Sometimes, it comes back to burn him.
Steady Manny
Another year, another 25-homer season for Manny Machado. Leading off the bottom of the fourth inning, he turned on a 1-2 fastball from Carlos Rodón and launched it to the seats in left field.
In doing so, he reached the 25-homer mark for an 11th consecutive season (not counting the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign). Machado is the only player in the Majors with 25 homers in each of the last 11 full seasons. Nobody else has more than Kyle Schwarber’s nine.
It’s a testament to Machado’s remarkable consistency. Even as he’s struggled this season, he’s continued to rack up the home runs -- now only six shy of 400.
Machado also worked a pair of walks on Saturday night. He’s clearly playing through a few ailments (which he goes to great lengths not to discuss) but might be rounding into form at just the right time for the Padres.
A tough matchup for Salas
Aside from Machado’s blast, Rodón kept the San Diego offense in check. But the Padres chased Rodón after five innings and had their best chance to get back into the game in the bottom of the sixth.
They put two men aboard with one out. But Luis Campusano flied to the warning track, bringing Freddy Fermin to the plate against Yankees reliever Michael Fulmer. That’s when Padres manager Craig Stammen deemed it time for Ethan Salas to make his Petco Park debut.
He called on Salas to bat for Fermin, which prompted Yankees manager Aaron Boone to go to left-hander Brent Headrick.
Even with the Padres trailing by four, Salas was greeted with a rousing ovation before his first Petco Park at-bat. But this was always a tough matchup for the lefty-hitting Salas. And sure enough, he struck out on three pitches.