Padres' Fernando Tatis Jr. reacts to Manny Machado's epic night vs. Astros
09/19/2024 02:09 AM
The San Diego Padres had plenty to be happy about thanks to Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado’s epic night versus the Houston Astros. Starting pitcher Dylan Cease cruised into the ninth inning with some outstanding work. Machado, Tatis Jr., and Donovan Solano hit back-to-back-to-back consecutive homers in the eighth inning for the Padres to tough out a 4-0 win over the Houston Astros.
Machado actually hit two round-trip dingers for the Padres, who won two of three against the Astros. San Diego needed the wins to stay 2.5 games ahead of the Arizona Diamondbacks and New York Mets for the most favorable National League Wild Card spot. Tatis Jr. had the most concise anwser for why things worked out so well.
“That’s Manny Machado, that’s what he does.”
The eighth-inning onslaught was a thing of beauty for fans sitting in PetCo Park, who got a Tatis Jr. bobblehead for their troubles on top of the win.
The San Diego Padres WIN the 3 GAME SERIES against the Houston Astros
Fernando Tatis Jr 1⃣9⃣ HR
Manny Machado 2⃣9⃣ HR
Donovan Solano 7⃣ HR
All 3 GO Back-To-Back-To-Back Homes Runs #Padrespic.twitter.com/4w9PA1kVHQ— PadresDamagedGoods (@PadresDG) September 19, 2024
Machado was done admiring the work as soon as it left the yard. There are bigger prizes on offer and the Astros might be standing in Padres’ way in the World Series.
"We beat a really good club out there," Machado explained. "It's fun. We're playing really good baseball. We beat a good ballclub that we're probably going to be facing later on, so to go out there and play like we did and have Cease throw like he did, it was a good day…We've always understood what the goal is all year and nothing's changed. We're going to continue to think that way.”
Padres Dylan Cease superb with run support
Cease was serving up unhittable orders for Astros’ hitters to hit the showers early.
"I remember looking up through six or seven and the pitch count was reasonable and I went up to Rueben (Niebla, the pitching coach), and said, 'Hey, I'm going to get through the eighth and ninth today,'" Cease said, per Bernie Wilson of the Associated Press. "He said, 'Hey, just take it one at a time,' and I said, 'OK.' When you get through six with a low pitch count, it's very easy to dream about going further."
The Padres’ ace stuck to the basics in what Cease called the third-best start of his career behind some no-hit bids.
"Just attacking the strike zone,” said Cease. “Mixing it up and relying on my defense really."
As for Cease’s reaction to the home runs?
“That was awesome,” Cease laughed. “Talk about kind of getting some breathing room right there, it was pretty amazing.”
The Padres do not have breathing room in the MLB Playoffs race. San Diego has been trying to survive in a postseason-like atmosphere for almost a month. The Los Angeles Dodgers are 3.5 games ahead of Machado and Tatis Jr. for the NL West crown, though they do hold the top spot in the NL Wild Card race.
Those regular season records will not matter once the postseason begins. The Padres will not have to worry much either. Not if Cease is serving up strikeouts while Machado and Tatis Jr. tee off on opponents at the current rate.
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