The list of players who have compiled 2,000 career hits and 350 career homers during their age 32 season is short and elite, containing 11 names that include Henry Aaron, Lou Gehrig and Willie Mays.
Manny Machado can become the 12th man in MLB history to join that list Saturday night if he gets three hits when the San Diego Padres host the Texas Rangers in game two of the teams’ three-game weekend series.
He turns 33 on Sunday. He has 356 career homers.
Machado came into the series five hits shy of 2,000 and picked up two Friday night in his team’s 3-2, 10-inning win. He blasted a 440-foot homer in the fourth and singled in the eighth. Texas manager Bruce Bochy didn’t give him a chance for a third knock in the 10th, issuing an intentional walk.
“Seems like every game, there’s a new milestone he’s hitting,” said San Diego second baseman Jake Cronenworth of Machado. “It’s special to be a part of this.”
Machado’s presence enabled Cronenworth to play the hero’s role in the 10th inning. The intentional walk allowed Cronenworth to come to the plate with two outs, and he lifted a bases-loaded single to right for the winning run.
Despite opening a season-long 10-game homestand with a win, the Padres suffered a potential loss. Shortstop Xander Bogaerts departed for a pinch-hitter after swinging and missing the first pitch in his 10th-inning at-bat.
Bogaerts limped off the field with what manager Mike Shildt called a cramp in his hamstring. It marked the second time in six days that a leg cramp forced Bogaerts out of a game.
“It was a pretty nasty cramp that knotted up on him,” Shildt said. “We’ve noticed it’s happening often so we’ve got to do a deep dive.”
Right-hander Stephen Kolek (3-3, 3.73 ERA) is scheduled to start for San Diego. He last pitched on Sunday in Cincinnati, permitting one run and three hits over 5 2/3 innings with a walk and five strikeouts in his team’s 3-2 defeat. He did not figure in the decision.
Kolek worked 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief last season in his only career outing against the Rangers.
Veteran left-hander Patrick Corbin (4-7, 4.26) will get the call for Texas. Corbin last appeared on Monday night, allowing eight hits and three runs over six innings of his team’s 10-6, 11-inning defeat. Corbin is 7-12 with a 4.70 ERA in 26 career games against the Padres, 21 of them starts.
The Rangers had chances to add to an early 2-0 lead Friday night and then to snap a 2-2 tie in the last four innings but couldn’t come up with a big hit. They were 1 for 12 with men in scoring position, stranding runners at first and second in the 10th before San Diego walked them off.
“It’s pretty simple. We’ve just got to get a big hit,” said Bochy when asked what it will take to win close games. “It’s frustrating to lose these games.”
Texas has played seven extra-inning games since June 14, going 3-4 in those games. Friday’s setback was its fifth extra-inning contest in eight days.
The Rangers expect to get outfielder Wyatt Langford (left oblique strain) off the injured list for Saturday night’s game. It’s the second time this year that injury has shelved him.
–Field Level Media
