Manny Machado homered twice Saturday to help the San Diego Padres stretch their winning streak to five games with an 11-1 victory over the host Boston Red Sox.
Machado hit a two-run home run in the third and added a three-run homer in the fifth. He has 10 home runs this season.
San Diego also received a solo home run from Jackson Merrill (his 12th) and a two-run shot from Brett Sullivan (his first). The Padres have 20 home runs in their last 10 games.
Three of the four home runs were hit against Boston starter Tanner Houck (7-6), who turned 28 on Saturday. Houck had allowed two home runs in 103 1/3 innings this season entering Saturday’s game.
Houck surrendered eight runs (seven earned) on nine hits in 4 1/3 innings. He began the day leading the American League in ERA (2.18), but his ERA rose to 2.67.
San Diego starter Michael King (6-5) tossed six innings to earn the win. The right-hander gave up a run on five hits, struck out six and walked one.
Jarren Duran accounted for the Red Sox’ run with his eighth homer, a solo shot in the sixth.
Duran made a fielding error in center field on a single by Ha-Seong Kim that allowed Donovan Solano to score and put the Padres up 1-0 in the second inning.
Machado’s two-run home run gave San Diego a 3-0 lead in the third, and Merrill’s home run — his second in as many games — made it 4-0 in the fourth.
The Padres scored six runs in the fifth. The inning included an RBI single by Jake Cronenworth, Machado’s three-run homer and Sullivan’s two-run blast.
Sullivan hit his home run against Boston left-hander Bailey Horn, who was making his major league debut.
After Duran got the Red Sox on the scoreboard, Merrill’s RBI double in the eighth drove in Cronenworth with the game’s final run. Merrill and Luis Arraez each had three of San Diego’s 16 hits.
–Field Level Media