MEXICO CITY -- The Padres have been kings of the comeback all season. On Sunday, they found themselves on the wrong end of one.
San Diego raced out to a six-run lead at a festive Estadio Alfredo Harp Helú on Sunday afternoon. But the Diamondbacks rallied for 10 runs against the Padres’ bullpen, and earned a 12-7 victory in the Mexico City Series finale.
Manny Machado homered twice and Luis Campusano went deep as well. But the Diamondbacks rallied to grab the lead with a furious six-run rally in the seventh inning. Time and again, the Padres themselves have rallied late this season. But they offered no such response on Sunday.
International Manny
Only three players in Padres history have recorded multi-homer games in Mexico -- and Machado has now done it twice.
Machado launched two more homers on Sunday -- first a missile to left-center, then a three-run opposite-field shot to give the Padres a six-run lead in the fifth. He also went deep twice when the Padres visited Mexico City in 2023.
- MLB's history of games played abroad
With those four homers, Machado is now the all-time leader in home runs in Mexico. He passed Ken Caminiti and Alex Bregman, who each recorded three.
Late-game letdown
Padres starter Michael King was excellent, allowing only two runs across six innings (amid the high altitude with the wind blowing out).
The San Diego bullpen was not nearly as sharp. David Morgan allowed a Tim Tawa grand slam, and Bradgley Rodriguez surrendered the tying and go-ahead runs on a Lourdes Gurriel double. But while it’s easy to look at the numbers and fault the relief corps … let’s just say there were mitigating circumstances.
For one, the rally featured its share of seeing-eye hits, and Tawa’s grand slam -- at 100 mph off the bat -- was clearly aided by the wind and the altitude. The biggest mistake of the inning came a batter before Tawa’s slam.
Alek Thomas bounced a grounder behind second base, which looked like an easy out for either Jake Cronenworth or Xander Bogaerts. But the two middle infielders collided, and Cronenworth, who fielded the ball, couldn’t make it to second base in time. The D-backs' rally was extended -- and they capitalized.
It’s also worth noting that in the top half of the frame, after the Padres put two men aboard with nobody out, Fernando Tatis Jr. was picked off second base. In a game like this one -- in conditions like these -- every run matters. And the Padres gave a few away.
Campy keeps mashing
The Padres decided to put their faith in Campusano this season, and is he ever rewarding that faith.
He launched an opposite-field home run on Sunday afternoon and is now hitting .350 on the season with a 1.145 OPS.
Campusano will continue splitting time behind the plate relatively evenly with Freddy Fermin, because the Padres view the position as a timeshare. Still, this level of production is remarkable -- from a position considered a weakness on the Padres' roster at the start of the season.
The Padres’ .787 combined OPS from their catchers ranked eighth in the Majors entering play Sunday -- and that number only went up.