DENVER — Manny Machado, one of the best third basemen of his generation, has had defensive highlights his entire life.
But the catch he made in the eighth inning in the Padres’ 3-2 win at Coors Field on Saturday afternoon? Perhaps Machado has outdone himself this time.
The Padres held on to a one-run lead, and the Rockies had the deciding run with an out to third base. Pinch hitter Mike Moustakas threw a foul pop over the left field line. Machado ran to the wall, slipped on the ground, and then began juggling the baseball — first off his glove, then again off his glove and onto his face, then off the underside of his hat peak, and finally with his bare hand.
“Caught it,” Machado said with a grin. “Honestly, I have no idea what the hell happened. It hit me somewhere, I don’t know where. My nose hurt. My lip hurt. I’m glad the run didn’t score.”
The last part is really the key. Machado’s catch was ridiculous enough. He also had the wherewithal to throw a spot-on return into infield and stop Ezequiel Tovar from scoring.
“You can’t practice that,” said Padres manager Bob Melvin. “It’s just instincts. And the desire to catch a ball that would be a smash hit at that time.”
Right-hander Nick Martinez incapacitated Tovar by causing Randal Grichuk to come up short. Josh Hader followed with a 1-2-3 ninth, and the Padres had their first three-game winning streak since May 1st.
Ultimately, Tovar’s run was the Rockies’ best chance to level the game. In hindsight, it’s worth asking if he would have taken a risk and tagged. According to the rules, Tovar could have left the sack the moment the ball first touched Machado’s glove. But the Rockies’ newcomer later admitted he wasn’t aware of that rule. Given Machado’s flawless shot, it’s unclear if he would have scored at all.
“I think it probably would have been close,” Tovar said. “I think I probably would have made it if I had gone, I don’t know. … Every time you lose, it’s frustrating. But you also have to give credit to Machado for that play – he got the ball back in, he made a great play.”
It’s hard to blame Tovar for playing a one-in-a-million playstyle. As Machado went into foul territory, the Padres’ third baseman considered the possibility of dropping the ball. But at the last moment, he decided the out was too valuable. Also, he thought he was close enough to make a toss on the plate.
“Ultimately you just have to take a risk and try to catch it and keep the guy there,” Machado said. “…I mean, once you’ve made that decision, you have to do it. When you walk down there, all you ask yourself is, “Can I catch it?” Right? Is it deep enough?’”
Melvin said: “That means understanding the enormity of the game and understanding what could potentially happen. There’s just a lot of good things happening all at once. You can’t teach that.”
All in all, it was an excellent day for Machado. He finished the game 3-on-5 and played a strong third base, even outside of the catch. He also capitalized on a mental error by Rockies left-hander Kyle Freeland early in the first inning.
Machado was on first base when he noticed Freeland working out of the windup. He immediately made his way to second base, and when Gary Sánchez dunked a single to flat left center, Machado turned on the jets and scored from first base.
“Look, he knows how to play baseball,” Melvin said.
Machado’s clever base running gave San Diego an early lead. From there, the Padres employed a surprise pitching strategy, piggybacking left Ryan Weathers and right Drew Carlton.
It wasn’t traditional. But the Padres formed five innings of two-run ball from a Weathers/Carlton piggyback at Coors Field, each allowing one run apiece. They will take that.
“It definitely gave them a very different look from being left-handed and right-handed,” said catcher Austin Nola.
The Padres took the lead in the sixth run with Fernando Tatis Jr.’s single in two runs. From there, the bullpen was outstanding, keeping the Rockies scoreless for the last four frames.
With a little help from Machado’s Fang.
“Not just catch,” Nola said. “Bounced about four times and then caught? And then it occurred to him, as soon as he caught it, to throw it in immediately.
“It was one of the best pieces I’ve ever seen.”