The San Diego Padres spent most of Sunday afternoon a run short, then fixed it in a hurry. Manny Machado‘s game-tying single and Ty France‘s sacrifice fly capped a two-run eighth inning in a 5-4 win over the Toronto Blue Jays at Petco Park — San Diego’s second straight win, and one that pulls the club back to 48-48, 3.5 games out of the final National League wild-card spot.
Machado finished 3-for-4 and was in the middle of everything. He scored the Padres’ first run in a three-run second against Kevin Gausman — Jake Cronenworth‘s RBI single, a bases-loaded walk to Sung-Mun Song, and a Gausman balk that scored France. Gausman settled in from there, striking out eight over six innings, and Toronto climbed back on solo power: Nathan Lukes‘ fifth homer in the first and Ernie Clement‘s two-run shot, his eighth, off Germán Márquez in the fourth. Márquez lasted four innings, allowing three runs on six hits.
When Jonatan Clase singled home the go-ahead run off Adrian Morejon in the eighth, Petco went flat — briefly. Xander Bogaerts singled and stole second, Machado brought him home off Jeff Hoffman, and France’s fly ball to center scored pinch-runner Jase Bowen for the lead. Morejon got the win; Mason Miller needed eight pitches for a perfect ninth and his save.
The bullpen quietly carried the day — five innings, one run, with Kyle Hart, Ron Marinaccio, Morejon and Miller bridging from Márquez’s short start. With Fernando Tatis Jr. and Jackson Merrill a combined 0-for-8, the stars-and-depth formula ran in reverse for once, and it still produced a series win over a good team heading into the All-Star break.
For fantasy managers, Machado has hits in each of his last four starts and looks like a buy-low window closing. Song’s on-base skills are creeping into deeper-league relevance at the bottom of a crowded infield, and Miller — whatever the deadline brings — remains locked into the ninth inning and should be treated as a top-five closer the rest of the way.
