​SAN DIEGO (AP) — Manny Machado delivered the tying run with a single in the eighth inning, and Ty France knocked in the go-ahead run on a sacrifice fly as the Padres held off the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 on Sunday, earning two wins in their three-game set. The victory marked just the Padres’ fifth win in 16 games, pulling them back to the .500 mark at 48-48. Toronto, the defending American League champion, heads into the All-Star break at 45-51.
Machado’s third single of the night plated Xander Bogaerts, who had started the frame with a leadoff single off Jeff Hoffman (5-6) and then stolen second base. Machado moved up on a groundout by Gavin Sheets and was eventually replaced by Jase Bowen, who stole third and subsequently scored on France’s sacrifice fly to center.
Mason Miller, the Padres’ lone All-Star, worked a clean ninth inning on eight pitches to pick up his 25th save. Toronto had briefly surged ahead, taking a 4-3 lead on Jonatan Clase’s RBI single with two outs in the eighth before San Diego answered.
Adrian Morejon (7-2) earned the win for San Diego. Toronto’s Nathan Lukes also went deep, homering on Germán Márquez’s sixth pitch for his fifth of the season.
The Padres rallied for three runs in a boisterous second inning. The frame began with a tense moment as Padres hitting coach Steven Souza Jr. was ejected by plate umpire Jen Pawol for protesting from the dugout after Sung-Mun Song’s ABS challenge was denied. Song ultimately drew a bases-loaded walk to give San Diego a 2-1 advantage. A few batters later, Blue Jays manager John Schneider emerged to argue after Pawol called a balk against Kevin Gausman, which allowed the third run to score.
Gausman, who had loaded the bases with no outs on two singles and a walk, was then pulled, and Jake Cronenworth delivered an opposite-field single to left to tie the game at 1. The Jays later forged ahead when All-Star Clemens hit a two-run homer off a brick warehouse in the left-field corner with two outs in the fourth, tying the game at 3. It was Clemens’ eighth homer of the season.
Looking ahead, Toronto hosts the Chicago White Sox in a series beginning Friday, while San Diego opens a series Friday night in Kansas City.