Manny Machado hit two home runs and drove in five runs to lead the San Diego Padres to their second consecutive dominant win over the Boston Red Sox, with a score of 11-1 on Saturday.
This victory marked the Padres’ fifth straight win and ninth in their last ten games, pushing their record to five games above .500, their highest of the season.
Jarren Duran hit a solo home run for the Red Sox, who suffered their third consecutive loss.
Machado achieved his 40th career game with multiple home runs, hitting a two-run homer that cleared Fenway Park in the third inning, followed by a three-run shot in the fifth inning during a six-run rally.
After his second home run, chants of “Manny! Manny!” filled Fenway Park, showing strong support from Padres fans in attendance.
“Yeah, I heard it coming in. A lot of Padres fans here,” Machado acknowledged with a smile. “It’s kind of weird to see it in Boston. I played here quite a bit and it’s kind of tough. … It was great to see a lot of yellow out there and hearing myself and the (Ha-Seong) Kim chants and the Jackson chants.”
Boston’s starter Tanner Houck (7-6) had a tough outing on his 28th birthday, giving up a career-high eight runs (seven earned) in 4 1/3 innings. His ERA rose from an AL-best 2.18 to 2.67 after yielding three home runs.
“Just left too many pitches middle,” Houck reflected. “With all my pitches.”
The Padres capitalized on a big fifth inning for the second game in a row, scoring six runs to take a commanding 10-0 lead.
“Today the slider wasn’t great. They put some good at-bats,” Boston manager Alex Cora noted about Houck’s performance. “They’re a good offensive club and did a good job against him.”
San Diego secured their second series win in nine attempts against the Red Sox, following their 9-2 victory on Friday where all their runs came in the fifth inning.
