SAN DIEGO (AP) — Manny Machado became the career home run leader at Petco Park and drove in three runs for the San Diego Padres, who held two-way All-Star Shohei Ohtani hitless in a three-game sweep secured with a 5-3 win Wednesday night.
Ohtani was in the lineup as the designated hitter after leaving Tuesday’s start as a pitcher with a blister on his right middle finger. He was 0 for 10 with two walks with two strikeouts in the series. He remains at 31 homers, most in the big leagues.
Asked about the Padres holding Ohtani hitless, manager Bob Melvin held his hands together as if in prayer and said, “Right?”
“There were a couple instances there we were looking maybe even to pitch around him and potentially walk him, but we made really good pitches on him all series,” Melvin said. "There were a lot of ground balls to second base, which you don't typically see from him. So if you're going to win a series, you're going to sweep a series against them, you're probably going to have to get him out a bunch.”
Reliever Tom Cosgrove, who had a big strikeout of Ohtani in the series opener on Monday night and retired him on popup in the eighth Wednesday night, said the Padres did a great job of following their game plan.
“If you execute the plan, you usually get guys out," Cosgrove said. “It just went well this week.”
The sweep followed a brutal 1-5 trip to Pittsburgh and Cincinnati. The Padres are five games under .500 and buried in fourth place in the NL West, not where they thought they'd be with a quartet of superstars and a $250 million payroll, the third-largest in the majors.
Machado gave the Padres a 3-2 lead when he hit a no-doubter to left off reliever Jose Soriano leading off the sixth for his 66th at Petco Park, one more than Adrian Gonzalez, who played for the Padres from 2006-10. Machado signed with the Padres in 2019. It was the 12th of the season for Machado, who also hit a tying single in the third off starter Patrick Sandoval.
“It's great. Obviously it's a big accomplishment and something that's going to be in the books forever,” said Machado, who's under contract through 2033. “It's an honor to be up there.”
L.A.'s Matt Thaiss tied it leading off the seventh when he greeted reliever Nick Martinez (4-3), with a homer to deep right-center, his fifth.
The Padres loaded the bases with one out in the seventh and Xander Bogaerts' soft grounder to reliever Jacob Webb (1-1) brought in Fernando Tatis Jr. with the go-ahead run. Machado then drew a bases-loaded walk in the eighth. Tatis had three hits and scored twice.
Angels manager Phil Nevin was ejected during Bogaerts' at-bat and came out and continued to argue with plate umpire Jerry Layne. He might have been angry about a ball four call to Machado, which looked like it caught the bottom of the zone.
All-Star closer Josh Hader pitched the ninth for his 20th save. It was the first time he pitched in three straight games since Sept. 24-26, 2021, while with Milwaukee.
Padres starter Seth Lugo allowed two runs, one earned, and five hits in six innings, with six strikeouts and one walk.
Machado hit a tying RBI single in the third, a half-inning after Jo Adell's ground ball caromed off third base and into foul territory for a double that brought in Mickey Moniak.
