MIAMI (AP) — Jake Cronenworth hit a grand slam in the first inning, Ha-Seong Kim also drove in four runs, and the San Diego Padres beat the Miami Marlins 10-3 on Wednesday.
Kim went 3-for-4 with two doubles. Juan Soto reached base three times and scored twice for the Padres, who avoided a three-game sweep.
All-Star Manny Machado went 2-for-4, extending his streak of multiple-hit games to eight. The Miami native finished 6-for-11 for San Diego in the three-game series. The Padres’ Josh Bell ended an 0-for-26 skid with a double in the ninth.
“We want to play better but I think today was more about getting in a good game and going home,” said Padres manager Bob Melvin, whose club finished a 3-3 trip.
Cronenworth’s two-out blast against Pablo López (7-8) followed singles from Soto and Machado and a walk to Bell. It was Cronenworth’s 12th homer this season and second career grand slam.
In the Padres’ 4-3 loss Tuesday, Cronenworth went hitless twice late with runners in scoring position.
“It’s hard to pick and choose when you do,” Cronenworth said. “You just want to have the best at-bat you can. They just happened to make some really good pitches on me (Tuesday). Got a pitch I could handle today and put a good swing on it.”
The Padres capped a five-run first on Kim’s RBI double.
“It’s good to see the offense come around, especially the first inning,” Melvin said. “They had good energy, good at-bats and put up a five spot. Certainly it was good feeling going through the rest of the game.”
The Marlins cut into the deficit and ended Padres starter Mike Clevinger’s outing after 4 1/3 innings. Jon Berti hit a run-scoring double in the first and Jacob Stallings added an RBI single in the fourth.
Brandon Drury had an RBI groundout in the fifth for San Diego. Brian Anderson’s run-scoring double in the bottom half got the Marlins within 6-3.
After Clevinger’s exit, Adrían Morejón (2-0) threw 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief. Morejón struck out Charles LeBlanc and pinch-hitter Jesús Aguilar with the bases loaded to end Miami’s threat in the fifth.
Kim had a bases-clearing double against Miami reliever Elieser Hernádez in the ninth. Hernández also surrendered a three-run double to Machado on Tuesday.
Clevinger allowed three runs on six hits and four walks.
“I didn’t find it today,” Clevinger said. “I had good teammates behind me to pick me up. I had issues attacking the zone.”
López lasted 4 2/3 innings, allowing six runs.
“As a starting pitcher, it’s my job to set a good tone for the game and I set a very bad tone for this game, and I take responsibility for that,” López said.
