Bill Center, longtime sportswriter for U-T San Diego, is an employee of the Padres.

Manny Machado’s two-run homer Sunday resulted in two other first-half milestones for the Padres, and it also extended the third baseman’s productive run with the bat.

Machado’s homer was the Padres’ 17th over the past five games -- a franchise record. With it, he joined Hunter Renfroe (24) and Franmil Reyes (24) in the 20-homer club. Before this season, the Padres had never had more than one player with 20 home runs at the All-Star break. Now, they have three.

As for Machado, the homer was his Major League-leading 10th over the past 15 games. During that span, Machado has hit safely in 14 games, going 29-for-68 with six doubles, four walks, 23 RBIs and 20 runs scored.

In this stretch, Machado is hitting .426 with a .458 on-base percentage and a .959 slugging percentage for a 1.417 OPS. Since June 13, his batting average has climbed from .240 to .277.

But it isn’t just Machado. For the 15 games of Machado’s surge, he, along with Eric Hosmer and Fernando Tatis Jr., have batted a collective .409 (79-for-193) with 13 doubles, three triples and 16 homers for 55 RBIs and 53 runs scored. They have also drawn 20 walks for a collective .465 on-base percentage and a .756 slugging percentage for a 1.221 OPS.

Tatis Jr.’s batting average has climbed from .309 to .337, while Hosmer’s has improved from .285 to .302.

Individually, Tatis Jr. is hitting .393 (24-for-61) over the last 15 games with three doubles, three triples, three homers, 21 RBIs and 11 walks. Hosmer has hit .406 (26-for-64) with four doubles, three homers, 12 runs scored and 21 RBIs.

The Padres are 9-6 in those 15 games.

NOTEBOOK

--Hosmer had his fourth straight multi-hit game Sunday. His active hitting streak has reached seven straight games. He is 15-for-33 (.455) during the streak with a .500 on-base percentage. Hosmer now leads the league with 39 opposite-field hits and has become a shift-buster when leading off an inning (.345) or coming to the plate with no one on (.314).

--Tatis Jr. scored 26 runs in June, the highest total ever by a Padres rookie in a calendar month.

--RHP Luis Perdomo has worked 14 1/3 straight scoreless innings (10 appearances, one start) without allowing an earned run. Over the run that started on June 1, Perdomo has allowed one unearned run on 10 hits and three walks.

--LHP Joey Lucchesi has allowed eight runs on 16 hits and eight walks with 21 strikeouts over 22 1/3 innings in his last four starts for a 3.22 earned-run average and a 1.075 WHIP. His ERA has fallen to 3.91.