Manny Machado's homer not enough as Padres lose to D-backs, fall back under .500

Jeff Sanders, The San Diego Union-Tribune on Jul 10, 2026

Published in Baseball

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SAN DIEGO — Manny Machado returned to the lineup after a day off after fouling a ball off his toe.

He’s good to go, but an evening of light jogging didn’t hurt.

The 34-year-old veteran homered in his first at-bat in his return to action. Too bad that was just about all the San Diego Padres had going for them in a 3-1 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Thursday as they settled for a four-game split to start the final homestand of the first half.

The Padres are a game under .500 and need to overtake five teams to get back into playoff position. They’ll have to win the weekend series against the defending AL champion Toronto Blue Jays to take a winning record into the All-Star break.

Maybe Machado — who had two of the Padres’ three hits — heating up will help.

He began the game with a .188 batting average, the lowest among the majors’ qualifying hitters. His 19 homers, however, are still tied for the 13th most in the NL, in large part because of a power binge over the last couple weeks.

His five homers over his last 11 games are tied for second most in the NL since June 28. Machado began Thursday hitting .229/.372/.629 in 10 games over that stretch as he continues to show signs of beginning to pull out of his season-long funk.

Machado writhed in pain at the plate on Tuesday after fouling a ball of his left big toe. He remained in the game and post-game imaging was negative, but Macahdo was given Wednesday off as a precaution and an opportunity to undergo a root canal on a bothersome tooth.

A day later, Machado ambushed a middle-middle fastball to start the second inning as Machado drove the Merrill Kelly offering 364 feet and over the wall in right field for a 1-0 lead.

The blast was the second of Machado’s career off Kelly.

His fourth-inning single — off a first-pitch sinker — marked just Machado’s 14th multi-hit game of the season. Gavin Sheets followed with a walk, but Jake Cronenworth grounded into a double play to end the inning.

Miguel Andujar erased Luis Campusano’s leadoff walk to start the fifth inning, helping Kelly — who began the game with a 5.71 ERA—cruise through seven innings of one-run ball in yet another quality start against the Padres.

The 37-year-old veteran began the game with a 3.41 ERA in 18 career starts against the Padres and he allowed just three hits Thursday, two of which went to Machado.

Right-hander Griffin Canning was chased in the fifth inning. He struck out five and didn’t walk a batter in allowing two runs in 42/3 innings to lower his ERA to 6.47, but he did not escape without some self-inflicted damage.

A wild pitch with runners on second and third tied the game two innings after Machado’s home run. The seventh hit that Canning allowed slipped through the middle of the infield in the fifth to give Arizona a 2-1 lead.

Left-hander Yuki Matsui finished the fifth inning but allowed a solo homer to Nolan Arenado in the sixth inning