Manny Machado and Xander Bogaerts homered and the San Diego Padres clinched home-field advantage in the first round of the National League playoffs with a 10-7 victory over the visiting Arizona Diamondbacks on Saturday.
Machado’s 30th homer of the season, a three-run opposite field shot off Jose Cabrera (0-4) in the fourth, gave the Padres (90-71) a 6-4 lead they never lost.
The Padres, the No. 4 seed, will open a best-of-three NL wild-card series against the fifth-seeded Chicago Cubs on Tuesday.
The D-backs (86-75) remained in the race for the final NL wild-card spot after Philadelphia (87-74) lost to Tampa Bay on Saturday. The D-backs own the tiebreaker over the Phillies and will advance if they win Sunday and the Phillies lose at home to the Rays.
Arizona scored three runs off Mason Miller in the ninth but he struck out Ildemaro Vargas to end the game.
Jake Cronenworth had two hits and two RBIs for the Padres, who have won eight of 10 and 16 of 19.
James McCann hit a two-run homer, Tim Tawa had three hits and Ketel Mate added two hits for the D-backs, who had a season-high six-game winning streak broken.
Arizona’s Gabriel Moreno was 1-for-3 with an RBI single and led the NL with a .311 batting average entering the final day of the season. Philadelphia’s Luis Arraez, who is out with a sprained ankle, is hitting .310.
Dustin Harris and Jackson Merrill had two hits and scored twice apiece, and Ethan Salas also collected two hits for the Padres.
San Diego starter Walker Buehler gave up five hits and four runs (three earned) in 3 2/3 innings. He struck out three and walked one.
Yuki Matsui (5-1) retired the only batter he faced for the win.
The lead changed four times in the first four innings, with San Diego scoring twice in the third for a 3-2 lead when right fielder Corbin Carroll and center fielder Tawa could not find routine fly balls.
McCann’s two-run homer off Buehler made it 4-3 Arizona in the top of the fourth before Machado’s blast gave the Padres the lead in the bottom of the inning.
Bogaerts hit a solo shot in a two-run fifth for an 8-4 San Diego lead and Cronenworth added a two-run single in the sixth.
–Field Level Media
