The 7-1 victory clinched a series win over the Mets, whose 62 wins were tied for most in the National League when they arrived in San Diego.<\/p>\n
The Padres have won four straight after losing four straight.<\/p>\n
They have added two games to their lead over the Reds in the past two nights and three games to their lead over the Giants in the past three nights.<\/p>\n
All that serves to further illustrate that the NL pennant chase is wide open.<\/p>\n
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There is really no way to handicap the playoff picture at this point.<\/p>\n
The expectation around the league is that the next day-and-a-half will bring a flurry of trades and that some of the contenders in the NL will look significantly different come Thursday night.<\/p>\n
Whether they will prove to be significantly different is another matter. Trade deadline moves are often fool\u2019s gold.<\/p>\n
Whatever the Padres do to try to make their lineup better, they already are better.<\/p>\n
They seem to be showing they are who they said they are.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s been times where we haven\u2019t been able to put it together,\u201d Padres manager Mike Shildt said the other day. \u201cBut we\u2019ve reestablished what our identity is.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Padres last night scored at least seven runs for the third straight game and for the sixth time in their 12 games since the All-Star break. They did not score that many runs in any of their final 28 games in the first half.<\/p>\n
They had a five-run inning for the second straight night and have scored at least four runs in an inning in three consecutive games. They have scored at least four runs in an inning in five of their past 12 games after doing so five times in their previous 58 games.<\/p>\n
They got nine hits last night, the sixth consecutive game in which they have had at least that many. They had at least nine hits in two of their first six games coming out of the break as well. They had that many hits in 18 of their 58 games leading into the break.<\/p>\n
None of that means the Padres no longer need to add a legitimate hitter to lengthen their lineup (plus a pitching piece or two).<\/p>\n
They do.<\/p>\n
As has been the case all along, they continue to seek an impact bat via what will likely be more than one move. Because to get a player that truly has a chance to make them better, the word is that they need to clear some salary space.<\/p>\n
The most obvious way to do that is to unload starting pitcher Dylan Cease,\u00a0 who is owed about $4.5 million over the final two months of the season.<\/p>\n
The Padres have always maintained a high price for Cease. Such a stance often changes in the final day or so before the deadline, which is 3 p.m. PT on Thursday.<\/p>\n
There is also the possibility Preller makes a move (or moves) no one has forecast.<\/p>\n
It is his aggressiveness and creativity that ownership is banking on as they have determined they can\u2019t manage a big increase in a payroll that already ranks ninth in the major leagues.<\/p>\n
Regardless, they can be confident after the team\u2019s first four-game winning streak since early May that they are adding to a legitimate contender.<\/p>\n
The Manny<\/p>\n
The only major leaguer to have at least 28 home runs in nine consecutive 162-game seasons is on pace to make it 10.<\/p>\n
Only if you didn\u2019t know he was \u201cf\u2014ing Manny Machado\u201d<\/a> would you have doubted it.<\/p>\n Even on May 22 when he was sitting on three home runs.<\/p>\n As Machado has said many times, the back of the baseball card generally doesn\u2019t lie. And his baseball card shows he has hit 30 homers, plus or minus a couple, for the better part of a decade.<\/p>\n The only season since 2015 that Machado did not reach 28 home runs was 2020, the covid-shortened campaign. He hit 16 in 60 games that season.<\/p>\n Machado, who homered three times in his first 180 at-bats this season and has 17 homers in the 235 at-bats since then, is on pace for 30.<\/p>\n In addition to his tracking toward the 28 homers for 10 straight full seasons distinction, Machado last night became one of just six active players with at least 10 20-homer seasons.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s tough,\u201d he said. \u201cWorking hard. Consistency. It\u2019s not easy. It\u2019s pretty cool. Pretty dope.\u201d<\/p>\n Merrill gladness<\/p>\n Jackson Merrill arrived at third base laughing after his stand-up triple in the sixth inning.<\/p>\n He clasped his hands together and looked skyward. Then he looked toward the Padres\u2019 dugout still sporting a big grin.<\/p>\n He had just bounced a 97 mph ground ball that hit the dirt in the batter\u2019s circle about 10 feet from home plate, bounced over first baseman Pete Alonso\u2019s head and rolled to the corner in right field.<\/p>\n Focus. Speed. I am speed. pic.twitter.com\/9xibhKl906<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 San Diego Padres (@Padres) July 30, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n \u201cAre you kidding me?\u201d Merrill said later. \u201cNobody deserves that type of triple more than I do. Nobody.\u201d<\/p>\n He referred to the fact he has been getting out on a number of well-struck balls. For the season, Merrill is batting .382 on balls that he barrels or makes solid contact on. That is 174 points below the league average.<\/p>\n \u201cFor real, I thought it was funny,\u201d he said. \u201cLike, that\u2019s how I\u2019m going to get a triple and an RBI? I\u2019ve been focusing on getting better with my approach, and that\u2019s how it happens. It\u2019s funny. I\u2019ll take it.\u201d<\/p>\n Merrill, whose triple broke a 1-1 tie, also drove in the Padres\u2019 first run with a single and is riding a season-best nine-game hitting streak, during which he is batting .289 (11-for-38).<\/p>\n \u201cI feel like since the break I\u2019ve been way better,\u201d said Merrill, who was batting .132 over the 19 games preceding his hitting streak.<\/p>\n \u201cI honestly don\u2019t know what it is,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t want to even think about it. I feel like every time I start thinking about how \u2018Oh, I\u2019m doing good because of this (reason),\u2019 then I start focusing on that, and I don\u2019t focus on what\u2019s important. And it goes down a rabbit hole again. So I think it\u2019s just taking what I got, and I\u2019m not thinking about it anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n Easy does it<\/p>\n Jason Adam was warming up in the bottom of the seventh inning when Machado\u2019s three-run homer bounced off the ribbon scoreboard next to the Padres\u2019 bullpen.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was like, \u2018Thanks for the vacation, Manny. Appreciate you,\u2019\u201d Adam said.<\/p>\n Machado\u2019s home run gave the Padres a six-run lead, so Adam sat down and Ron Marinaccio pitched the eighth inning instead. Then Yuki Matsui worked the ninth instead of Robert Suarez.<\/p>\n The Padres have scored seven or more runs in six of their past 12 games. Moreover, last night was the fourth time in that span they won by a margin of at least five runs. The scarcity of such victories has contributed to Adam, Suarez, Jeremiah Estrada and Adrian Morej\u00f3n working an abundance of games.<\/p>\n But Adam has worked just four of the Padres\u2019 12 games in (12 days) since the All-Star break. Suarez has worked just three.<\/p>\n Estrada worked his sixth game in that span last night, and Morej\u00f3n his fifth.<\/p>\n For the first time since April, Estrada and Morej\u00f3n are ahead of Adam on the games-pitched leaderboard. Last night was the 52nd appearance for both, one behind MLB leaders Tyler Rogers (Giants) and Tony Santillan (Reds). Adam has appeared in 51 games. Suarez, who has an MLB-leading 20 saves, has worked in 46 games.<\/p>\n Like every other reliever, Adam says he prefers pitching to resting. But he acknowledged it is good to get a break.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s great,\u201d Adam said. \u201cOffense is clicking, putting up big numbers. We\u2019ll take the rest. But I love pitching, and I\u2019ll be ready.\u201d<\/p>\n Making \u2018em work<\/p>\n By the time Jake Cronenworth made the first out in the bottom of the fifth inning, Mets starter Sean Manaea had thrown 77 pitches.<\/p>\n Cronenworth had seen 23 of those pitches between his two at-bats against the left-hander.<\/p>\n \u201cNothing to show for it in the box score,\u201d Shildt said of the two outs Cronenworth made on at-bats that lasted nine and 14 pitches. \u201cBut those are big at-bats. That counts and starts to drain the battery a little bit and also shortens the outing.\u201d<\/p>\n Manaea retired the next two batters and was finished after 86 pitches in five innings, leaving a 1-1 game having allowed three hits and no walks.<\/p>\n The Padres proceeded to score a run in the sixth off Jos\u00e9 Butt\u00f3 and five runs in the seventh off Butt\u00f3 and Chris Devenski.<\/p>\n \u201cSean is super unique and (has an) interesting (arm) angle,\u201d Cronenwoerth said. \u201cIt\u2019s tough at-bat for a lefty. Just trying to find a way to compete and try to win. He won both of them. But the biggest thing is we got him out of there in the fifth inning and got into the bullpen.\u201d<\/p>\n Cronenworth\u2019s 14-pitch at-bat was the longest plate appearance by a Padres player this season. His 18 plate appearances of at least eight pitches are tied with Luis Arraez for most on the team.<\/p>\n \u201cYou just get into compete mode more than anything,\u201d Cronenworth said. \u201cYou\u2019re not thinking about anything else except trying to win that pitch.\u201d<\/p>\n Bergert\u2019s night<\/p>\n Rookie Ryan Bergert allowed three baserunners through four innings last night before issuing his third walk to start the fifth and then yielding a single and walking another batter to load the bases with no outs.<\/p>\n Estrada replaced him and allowed just one run to score, on a sacrifice fly.<\/p>\n Bergert, recalled from Triple-A to make his seventh start of the season and first since July 12, has a 3.13 ERA as a starter but has recorded an out in the sixth inning just once.<\/p>\n \u201cObviously, I want to go deeper into games,\u201d he said. \u201cI keep struggling around that fifth inning mark. Obviously, get through that, rolling through it, and then roll through the lineup a third time, I think is the next step for me. Just learning, maturing and everything, and just kind of learning how to do that at this level, I think it\u2019s the biggest thing for me.\u201d<\/p>\n Tidbits<\/p>\n All right, that\u2019s it for me.<\/p>\n Talk to you tomorrow.<\/p>\n \t\t\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/10w20.png\")
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