Kyle Tucker and Gage Workman both failed to record the final out of the inning
The San Diego Padres entered Tuesday with the best record in baseball (14-3), and they had a perfect 11-0 mark at Petco Park. Only the 2009 Los Angeles Dodgers (13-0) and 2023 Tampa Bay Rays (14-0) have longer winning streaks at home to open a season since 1900. The vibes are immaculate in San Diego in the early days this season.
They say it’s better to be lucky than good, but to win 11 straight at home, you have to be lucky and good. Tuesday night against the Chicago Cubs (GameTracker), Padres star Manny Machado got a little lucky in his fifth inning at-bat, and he made the Cubs pay. Right fielder Kyle Tucker and third baseman Gage Workman both dropped foul popups, then Machado clobbered a solo homer.
Here are the two dropped popups and Machado’s homer. This was a nine-pitch at-bat that drove up Shota Imanaga’s pitch count and got him out of the game in addition to opening the scoring:
Tucker and Workman were both charged with errors on the dropped popups, as they should have been. And because those popups would have been the third out and ended the inning, Imanaga is not charged with an earned run on the homer. He got Machado out (twice), but his defense let him down, and the pitcher does not get dinged for that.
Now 32, Machado entered play Tuesday with a .317/.394/.476 slash line and seven doubles, but only one homer. He’s already 6 for 6 stealing bases even though he’s averaged only 10 steals per 162 games in his career. The Padres as a team have been running wild on the bases this year, Machado included.
