​San Diego answered with quick resolve after slipping behind in the eighth, as Ty France delivered the game-winning RBI for the second straight time to lift the Padres to a 5-4 victory over Toronto on Sunday afternoon at Petco Park. Manny Machado collected three hits, including the game-tying single, fueling a San Diego (48-48) rally that marked their 25th comeback win and closed out the first half with back-to-back wins against the Blue Jays (45-51).
After surrendering the lead in the eighth, the Padres reclaimed it in their next turn at the plate. Xander Bogaerts opened with a single and promptly swiped second, setting the table for Machado to grind through an eight-pitch at-bat before delivering an RBI single off reliever Jeff Hoffman to level the score.
With two outs and Machado on second due to a groundout by Gavin Sheets in which second baseman Ernie Clement did not cover the bag, Jase Bowen entered as a pinch runner for Machado and quickly stole third. That aggression set up France to deliver the sacrifice fly that plated the go-ahead run and made it 5-4 in favor of San Diego.
Machado had started San Diego’s three-run second with a liner to left, and after Sheets drew a walk, France loaded the bases with a single. Jake Cronenworth followed with an RBI hit to tie the game, and after a strikeout, Sun-Mung Song drew the American League-leading ninth bases-loaded walk, giving the Padres the lead. Then starter Kevin Gausman was charged with a balk that allowed France to score, pushing the Padres ahead 3-1.
Germán Márquez surrendered the game’s first run when Nathan Lukes connected for a homer with one out in the first inning, and trouble followed in the third when Márquez walked Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Kazuma Okamoto in succession after getting a lead-off fly out. However, Márquez avoided further damage by stranding both runners with a pair of defensive plays, including a strong throw from catcher Rodolfo Durán to first to end the threat.
Toronto tied the game in the following inning as Andrés Giménez delivered a two-out double and Ernie Clement followed with his eighth homer, a shot that arcs into left-center field, splashing into the second basket of the Western Metal Supply Co. building.
Márquez lasted four innings, yielding six hits and three runs while fanning four and issuing two walks. Ron Marinaccio and Kyle Hart worked the middle innings for the Jays, with Marinaccio navigating a two-out hit and recording a strikeout. Adrian Morejón kept Toronto off the board in the seventh, but in the eighth, Okamoto started the frame with a single, Daulton Varsho reached on a fielder’s-choice groundout that erased the rookie, and a groundout allowed Varsho to advance. An intentional walk to Alejandro Kirk preceded Jonathan Clase’s single to center, giving Toronto a 4-3 edge.
The Padres, however, mounted a comeback in the bottom of the eighth. With Morejón still on the mound, San Diego staged a rally that culminated in the seventh win of the season for Morejón, as All-Star Mason Miller slammed the door with a strikeout for his 25th save and San Diego secured the 5-4 victory.