Manny Machado entered Thursday in the midst of one of the most outstanding offensive stretches of his already-prolific career. He added a new element to his dominance with his first multi-home run game of 2022. Both came off Jesús Luzardo, and although both were merely solo shots, that was enough for the Padres to win on a night when the Marlins’ lineup looked impotent.
Luzardo deviated somewhat from his usual formula of putting away batters with his slurvy breaking ball. In this outing, he registered five of his seven punchies on well-located fastballs. Even the game-deciding Machado homer in the bottom of the fourth inning painted the inside corner of the plate at 98 miles per hour.