Padres, Machado exorcise demons with walkoff after roller coaster against Giants

Petco Park- San Diego, California 

The Padres were desperate to pull out of their five-game tailspin. They looked to their hometown ace, Joe Musgrove, to try and stop the bleeding on Tuesday against the Giants.

While the game turned topsy-turvy in the ninth inning, a dramatic walk-off home run by Manny Machado lifted the Padres to the 7-4 win.

The night started out very similarly to the past five days of Padres baseball- scoreless. In fact, the Padres’ scoreless innings streak reached 26 innings before finally breaking through in the bottom of the fourth against Alex Cobb. And it was a big one, as Juan Soto swatted his first homer as a Padre, sending Petco Park into a frenzy and tying the game at one. It seemed to jolt the offense.

Juan Soto homered. #TimeToShine pic.twitter.com/PsU2Kipmtf

— San Diego Padres (@Padres) August 10, 2022

That provided sweet relief for an ailing Padres lineup. Fans envision this situation with Soto for years to come, as a catalyst for the team and, at times, an injection of life.

The work was not done, however. Musgrove battled and finished with seven innings of one-run ball, along with four strikeouts and zero walks. This is the type of performance the Padres needed from the man they just inked for $100 million. He gave the Padres lineup enough time to finally break out of their mega-slump.

Josh Bell broke the 1-1 tie in the sixth with an RBI single. Jake Cronenworth added a third run with a sac fly. In the bottom of the eighth, Ha-Seong Kim smacked an RBI ground-rule double to give the Padres a 4-1 lead. The Friars were finally hitting with runners in scoring position and driving in runs. They finished 4-for-8 with runners in scoring position.

With a three-run lead in the ninth, the Padres turned to their newly acquired closer Josh Hader. This is where things took a turn on San Diego. Hader clearly was not sharp and the Giants seem to have Hader figured out. They previously had tagged him for six runs in one outing in July, when Hader was still with Milwaukee.

The All-Star closer ended up walking three, hitting a batter, and allowing a hit that led to the Giants tying the game at four. The Padres were reeling. They finally had scored runs and were desperate to end their five-game skid, only to have their newly crowned closer blow a three-run lead.

Tim Hill got the last out of the ninth to avoid further damage and keep the game tied.

Jurickson Profar and Juan Soto each reached base ahead of Machado in the bottom of the ninth. Machado lined a ball and it blistered through the air into the second deck in left field, giving him his 20th homer of the year and the Padres the 7-4 walkoff victory. The Padres emphatically ended their offensive woes and losing streak in one sweet right-handed swing by Machado.

Volume up for some walk-off ASMR 🎧 pic.twitter.com/TJ4G1MByAL

— San Diego Padres (@Padres) August 10, 2022

Is this the type of win that galvanizes the team into a stretch of better quality baseball? That remains to be seen. The two teams square off on Wednesday afternoon for the rubber match before an off day on Thursday. The Padres have halted the slide backwards. Now it’s up to them to push the momentum forward again.

”There’s only one way to start a winning streak, and that’s winning the first one,” Juan Soto said after the big win.

Nick Lee

Native of Escondido, CA. Lived in San Diego area for 20 years. Padres fan since childhood (mid-90s). I have been writing since 2014. I currently live near Seattle, WA and am married to a Seattle sports girl. I wore #19 on my high school baseball team for Tony Gwynn. I am a stats and sports history nerd. I attended BYU on the Idaho campus. I also love Star Wars.