The lead changed hands three times before San Diego finally pulled away. The Padres beat the Atlanta Braves 8-3 at Truist Park, riding a fourth-inning surge and two home runs from Manny Machado to snap an early tie for good.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SD | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 13 | 0 |
| ATL | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 0 |
Machado went 2-for-5 with two home runs and two RBIs, going deep in the fifth and again in the sixth to stretch the margin. Fernando Tatis Jr. was even busier, finishing 3-for-5 with a double, a home run and three RBIs, capped by a 474-foot blast in the eighth. Jackson Merrill also connected, homering to tie the game in the fourth inning before San Diego took over.
Atlanta grabbed a brief lead in the second when James Jarvis tripled to right, driving in both Mauricio Dubón and Brewer Hicklen. San Diego had opened the scoring in the first when Ty France singled home Tatis Jr., but the Braves' two-run answer put them ahead 2-1. The Padres flipped the game in the fourth: Merrill's homer tied it at 2-2, and two batters later Luis Rengifo grounded out to shortstop to score Gavin Sheets for the go-ahead run, with Xander Bogaerts moving to third. Tatis Jr. followed with a double to right that brought home Bogaerts, and San Diego never trailed again. Machado's homers and a two-run shot from Tatis Jr. in the eighth, which also scored Rengifo, built the final cushion.
Braves starter Reynaldo Lopez struggled through 4.1 innings, allowing 5 runs on 9 hits with 3 walks and 6 strikeouts, taking the loss to fall to 4-3 with a 3.95 ERA. Atlanta's lone other run came in the seventh when Jarvis scored on a balk. San Diego starter Walker Buehler worked 5.2 innings, allowing 2 runs on 2 hits with 5 walks and 3 strikeouts, earning the win to move to 6-5 with a 5.23 ERA. The Padres bullpen covered 3.1 innings and allowed just 1 run, while Atlanta's relievers gave up 3 runs over 4.2 innings.
San Diego improved to 50-51 and snapped a one-game skid with the win, while Atlanta fell to 58-42 and dropped its opener of a new streak. Bogaerts, who doubled once, sits 7 shy of 400 career doubles, and Machado is 8 games from 2,000 career games played.