Manny Machado never goes on the injured list without a fight. The Padres aren’t even hinting at that possibility after their third baseman exited after six innings while grabbing at his left leg throughout the night, but it must be nice to know they have bats that can fill in.
Nick Castellanos snapped an 0-for-19 rut with a two-run single, Ty France drove in four runs and ran wild on the bases in a rare start and the Padres survived rare misfires from Randy Vásquez and Mason Miller in a 9-7 win over the Cubs on Monday night in front of a crowd of 41,478 at Petco Park.
“I mean, I’m just happy that I did something positive,” Castellanos said of his go-ahead single in the fifth inning. “Feel like I haven’t done anything positive for the team like in an (expletive) month it feels like, so just to be able to do something and help the Padres, I mean, feels good.”
Castellanos’ two-run single helped the Padres come back after Vásquez gave up a solo homer to Seiya Suzuki and a grand slam to rookie Moises Ballesteros in five innings.
France, making just his 11th start in a right-heavy lineup against Cubs left-hander Matthew Boyd, helped build an early 3-0 lead with a two-run double. He also swiped a base to help set up Castellanos’ two-run single and later tripled in two runs in the seventh inning.
Gavin Sheets’ solo home run in the eighth for a 9-5 lead was necessary insurance because Miller’s franchise-record 34⅔ inning scoreless streak came to an odd end in a non-save situation.
The box score will show that Miller gave up back-to-back-to-back singles to start the nunth. But only the second two hits were legit. The first was a slow roller that France — who moved from first base to third base after Machado’s exit for precautionary reasons, according to manager Craig Stammen — appeared to pick up after it stopped rolling in foul territory.
But umpire Shane Livensparger ruled it fair and soon the bases were loaded with no outs. Miller ultimately secured the win, but not before runs crossed the plate on Nico Hoerner’s groundout to second and a wild pitch.
“Padres win; that’s what matters at the end of the day,” Miller said. “So glad to bear down, you know, kind of staring down the barrel. Bases loaded, no outs, tying run at the plate, I think, so just got back to it and got out of there.”
Before exiting after a sixth-inning groundout, Machado had singled and doubled twice to bring his career total to 400 doubles. He, however, appeared to pull up with some discomfort in his left leg after sliding into second base on his third-inning double.
“Oh, he’s fine,” Stammen said. “We took him out as precaution. Looked like he was just going down the line a little slow, came out of the box a little awkwardly. He had a couple slides at second that didn’t feel great on this lower half. And so, you know, we’ll talk to him tomorrow, see how he’s feeling and then kind of evaluate him going forward.”
A three-run first inning equaled the three runs that the Padres scored in the first inning through the first 27 games combined.
Ramón Laureano walked to start the game, Jackson Merrill pulled a one-out single to left and Machado dropped a single to right to plate the first run. Then Miguel Andujar walked with two outs to load the bases for France, who lined a rule-book double to left field to open a 3-0 lead.
The first of Machado’s two doubles led to a run in the third inning via an RBI groundout from Andujar. The second chased Boyd from a game with an entirely different feel than the last time he faced the Padres, when Laureano’s broken finger kept him from the lineup last fall in the NL Wild Card Series.
A lefty-dependent lineup scored just five runs in three games, with Boyd starting the series with one run allowed over 4⅓ innings.
On Monday, Boyd was chased after four-plus innings with five runs allowed on eight hits and two walks.
Ben Brown relieved Boyd and recorded the first two outs before a passed ball allowed Machado to take third base. France then walked and swiped second and Castellanos cashed both runners in with his first hit since April 11.
Granted he played in just five games since — and not once in Mexico City’s altitude — but Castellanos’ single snapped an 0-for-19 rut and gave the Padres a 6-5 lead.
“Nick Castellanos, one of the biggest hits of the night to give us the lead there,” Stammen said. “He’d really been kind of scuffling at the plate. He’s adjusting to being a bench player right now. Accustomed to playing every single day, getting 500 at bats. So, you know, something that he’s getting used to and fighting through and really working hard to be good at.
“So it was just really nice to see him come through in that moment with a big at-bat and a big hit.”
The Cubs’ five runs off Vásquez were all scored on via home runs. He’d allowed just one long ball in his first five starts, but Vásquez was tagged for a solo shot in the second inning from Suzuki and then Ballesteros’ grand slam in the third.
Vásquez (2.94 ERA) struck out four while allowing five runs on five hits and three walks. He threw 71 of his season-high 106 pitches for strikes.
The bullpen took it from there, with Adrián Morejón recording five outs, Jason Adam fetching four and Miller getting the last three despite the end of his franchise-record scoreless streak.
