Manny Machado's 10th-inning blast lifts Padres to victory over Rangers

Kevin Acee, The San Diego Union-Tribune on Jun 20, 2026

Published in Baseball

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

ARLINGTON, Texas — Manny Machado got himself in a favorable count and got a pitch in the middle of the strike zone.

And he hit it a long way.

“He’s still Manny (expletive) Machado,” Jackson Merrill said. “That’ll never change.”

At least for now, at least for a day, the hero was back.

“Felt good,” Machado said. “We got a win. So even better.”

A three-run homer in the 10th inning by a star player who has not performed like one lifted the Padres to a 6-4 victory they sorely needed and he might have needed more.

The 408-foot line drive off Joe Ross capped a day in which Machado also had an RBI double in the third inning and a run-scoring groundout in the eighth.

“The homers are there, the RBIs are there,” said Machado, whose 13 home runs and 41 RBIs lead the team. “Key situations when I’m up there, you still gotta be afraid. I can do damage like I did today. It doesn’t matter, you see those numbers up there, you know, you see the back of my jersey and you’re gonna know who I am.”

That is the version of Machado the Padres have not gotten very often but can’t do without much longer, as they continue to be very much in contention for a playoff spot despite being tied for the major leagues’ worst record (8-16) since May 24.

For whatever else is dragging them down — such as a starting rotation ranked near the bottom of the league in ERA and the fact that four players in the starting lineup Saturday began this month in Triple-A — their most accomplished player has been the millstone around their neck.

The Machado the Padres have gotten more often than not in 2026 is the one who was 0 for 5 with three strikeouts in a 9-7 loss Friday.

He was 2 for 3 with runners in scoring position Saturday after entering the game batting .164 (9 for 55) in that situation. His two extra-base hits Saturday both came on fastballs in the strike zone. He went into Saturday batting .229 with a .459 slugging percentage against fastballs in the zone, down from .311 and .517 over the previous five seasons.

He is in the midst of his second-best stretch of the season, a 10-game span in which he is batting .244 with an .825 OPS (six doubles and two homers). Still, he entered Saturday with a .174 batting average, worst among the 155 qualifying hitters in the major leagues. His .604 OPS ranked 147th. He got those numbers up to .178 (still last) and .623 (140th) on Saturday.

Machado coming through helped get the Padres to 4-4 on a road trip that ends here Sunday.

The three-city trek has seen a further transformation of the roster, as two more minor leaguers were added due to injuries to catcher Freddy Fermin (concussion) and designated hitter Miguel Andujar (hamstring). Blake Hunt, called up to replace Fermin, made his first major league start on Saturday. He hit ninth, behind fellow former Chihuahuas Nick Solak, serving as the DH, and left fielder Jase Bowen.

And then there is outfielder Samad Taylor, who was called up June 3 and has worked his way up to No. 2 in the order. His bunt single in the first inning Saturday extended his hitting streak to 11 games, which is the longest on the team this season.

Taylor also scored twice Saturday, one fewer time than Fernando Tatis Jr.

Tatis’ first run came when he doubled with one out in the third inning and scored on Machado’s double. That was their only run in six innings against former Padres left-hander MacKenzie Gore.

The Rangers tied the game and got Padres starter Walker Buehler out of the game with back-to-back doubles in the sixth inning.

Tatis also doubled to lead off the eighth inning with the Padres down 3-1 after Jake Burger’s two-run homer off Jason Adam in the seventh inning. Tatis moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Taylor, who reached base on an error by Rangers catcher Kyle Higashioka, another ex-Padre.

Machado’s grounder drove in Tatis and got Taylor to second. Taylor moved to third on Xander Bogaerts’ groundout and scored on a single by Merrill.

Adrian Morejón worked two scoreless innings to get the game to the 10th. He ended up getting the win after Taylor began the extra inning with a walk, Machado homered (also bringing home Tatis, who began the inning on second) and Mason Miller allowed a run while recording his 20th save in the bottom of the 10th.

With that, the Padres could put behind them the colossal disappointment of Friday’s loss in the series opener, in which they scored five runs in the first inning against Jacob deGrom only to trail 6-5 at the end of the first.

“I think it was a big game for us,” Machado said. “Obviously, how the game started yesterday, getting to a Cy Young (winner) like that, putting up five, then giving up five after that, battling through that the rest of the game. So we showed a lot today.”