PADRES TO MISS THEIR MVP
Machado, who leads Padres in virtually every offensive category, suffers sprained left ankle as Padres get swept in Colorado
It could have been worse. From the dugout and the on-deck circle, all around a ballpark that let out a collective gasp and on television screens all over, the first thought was the worst.
“Everyone’s heart dropped a little bit,” Eric Hosmer said.
In the first inning of what ended up being an 8-3 loss to the Rockies on Sunday at Coors Field, Manny Machado sprinted up the first base line trying to beat out a ball he had dribbled onto the grass between home plate and the mound, slipped on first base and then had his left ankle give out as he took his first step past the bag.
The Padres’ best player crumpled to the ground, holding his lower leg above his ankle.
“It’s just a scary situation,” Padres designated hitter Luke Voit said.
The man serving as the Padres’ manager this week had flashbacks to two knee injuries Machado suffered almost a decade ago when they were teammates in Baltimore. A feeling of dread overtook Ryan Flaherty.
“I saw the first two of his lower-half injuries,” Flaherty said. “They were scary. So that’s where your mind goes first. Got out there and it was the ankle, so right away I felt better.”
After a few minutes, Machado was able to put slight pressure on his left leg as he hobbled toward the visitors’ clubhouse with head trainer Mark Rogow and Flaherty each having one of his arms draped over their shoulders.
“Fortunately, when he felt himself slip, he was able to shift his weight to the right and probably avoid more serious damage,” Flaherty said. “So all in all, as good it could be from what it looked like.”
Machado had X-rays taken and the team announced those images were negative for a fracture. The diagnosis of a sprain was announced, though the team did not specify how severe the sprain was. He is certainly headed to the injured list.
The website Sports Injury Central, led by former Chargers team doctor David Chao, assessed via video that Machado suffered a Grade 3 ankle inversion sprain that will keep him out at least a month.
The Padres took solace in what they escaped.
“Luckily, it was his ankle,” Voit said. “Could have been his knee, which would have been detrimental to our team.”
Teammates also were buoyed by Machado’s good spirits.
“He seemed like he was pretty happy with the results,” Hosmer said. “… We immediately thought bad things were gonna happen just by the way it looked. Talking to him and hearing the news from all the trainers and stuff, I think it’s a win, if that makes any sense.”
They also stood on the evidence of how they have performed without Fernando Tatis Jr., sidelined all season and until at least early next month after March wrist surgery.
Even after losing three straight to the last-place Rockies, the Padres’ 41-27 record is third best in the National League.
“I wouldn’t say we survived,” Jake Cronenworth said, fairly bristling at the use of that word in an assessment of what the team has done in the season’s first 2½ months. “I think we’ve played pretty darn well this year. It’s a testament to the guys on the roster — guys who didn’t necessarily play every day. … I think guys have kind of filled that role.”
The Padres also face uncertainty over how long their top starting pitcher
Manny Machado’s ankle injury turned what at the start of the day seemed a worst-case scenario into a secondary concern.
That didn’t make it any less ugly that the Padres on Sunday lost their 10th straight game at Coors Field and fifth straight game to the Rockies, who are in last place in the NL West.
On their way to the 8-3 defeat, the Padres scored first for the first time in the series — on Luke Voit’s second-inning homer — and then did not score again until after they trailed 8-1.
The Padres arrived here Thursday night with a winning road trip already secured and having just moved into first place in the National League West after scoring 41 runs in a fourgame sweep of the Cubs.
They have not won since. In three games at the major leagues’ most offensefriendly ballpark, they scored a total of 11 runs. They were 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position Sunday and 5-for-28 in the series.
“We had plenty of opportunities the whole series to cash in,” Voit said.
Even with Machado, who was 3-for-9 with a double and a homer in the series, the Padres of the past three days would have had trouble coming back from the 8-1 hole they found themselves in after the Rockies scored five runs in the fifth (four
charged to starter Blake Snell and one to Steven Wilson), one in the sixth on Randall Grichuk’s home run off Adrian Morejon and one in the seventh when Craig Stammen issued a basesloaded walk.
The Padres’ final two runs came on Austin Nola’s two-run homer with two outs in the eighth.
“Frustrating after sweeping the Cubs,” Voit said. “Obviously wanted to come in here and at least take two of three.”
The Padres, who went from a half-game ahead of the Dodgers earlier in the weekend to a half-game behind, begin a seven-game
homestand today, with three games against the Diamondbacks (32-36) and four against the Phillies (3632).
“This is a tough one to get swept,” Eric Hosmer said. “Haven’t been playing here really well as of late. But we just kind of f lush it out, move on, and we’ve got three big games against Arizona.”
Snell’s walks
As Coors Field starts go, Snell arguably did his job.
“He did good enough to give us a chance to win that game,” acting manager Ryan Flaherty said after Snell was charged with five runs (four earned) in 42⁄3 innings.
Snell, who a week earlier at Petco Park held the Rockies to two runs over six innings, began strong Sunday. He retired the Rockies in order on eight pitches in the first inning before an unearned run scored in the second on a single, a passed ball, a f ly ball out and another single.
He also walked a batter in the second, another in the third and another in the fourth. But he didn’t get in trouble until the fifth.
Garrett Hampson’s triple and Snell’s fourth walk of the game came with one out. Brendan Rodgers’ single put the Rockies up 2-1 before Snell struck out Charlie Blackmon. A single by C.J. Cron made it 3-1 and prompted Flaherty to bring in Wilson.
Wilson surrendered a three-run homer to Randal Grichuk, with two of the runs being charged to Snell.
It was the walks that bothered Snell. Again. He has issued 17 of them in his six starts.
“The walks gotta get limited,” Snell said. “Outside of that, the contact, they didn’t hit the ball hard. Limit the walks, I’ll be fine.”
Heavy lifting
Things looked up everso-slightly and ever-sobriefly when Voit — the first Padres batter after Machado went down while making the final out of the first inning — led off the second inning with a home run to give the Padres a 1-0 lead.
It was Voit’s eighth home run of the season, four behind Machado’s team-leading total. Voit’s double in the eighth inning was his 12th extra-base hit in the past 11 games.
Voit is batting .294 with a .949 OPS over his past 20 games (92 plate appearances) and knows the importance of his continuing to slug with Machado expected to be out for an extended period.
“I’m gonna do everything I can to keep doing what I’ve been doing and just be myself — not turn into something different,” he said.