Manny Machado took a big step on Saturday.
The San Diego Padres slugger kept up his July surge with an upper-deck blast against the Philadelphia Phillies. The home run was the 300th of his career.
With the first game of a doubleheader tied at 3-3, Machado faced a 2-2 count against Phillies reliever Matt Strahm. Strahm threw a 94 mph fastball that caught inside the plate. Machado lit the pitch and delivered it 425 feet into the second deck of the left field stands at Citizens Bank Park.
The solo shot gave the Padres a 4-3 lead. Unfortunately for San Diego, that didn’t hold. The Phillies rallied for a 6-4 victory thanks to a three-point bottom of the eighth.
For Machado, he becomes the 157th player to hit 300 career homers. At 31, reaching 400 is not out of the question. Machado is coming off a season that saw him finish second in MVP voting while tallying 32 home runs.
Although he missed the All-Star Game last week, he’s on a good pace again this summer, thanks in large part to a scorching July. Saturday’s home run was his fourth in three games and his eighth in July. He probably won’t be in the MVP conversation anymore, but he’s posting solid numbers with an average of .260, 17 homers and 51 RBI in 76 games.
The Padres need everything they can get from their scathing third baseman. At 44-48, they have a lot of work to do to rally from fourth place in Western Newfoundland and qualify for the playoffs.