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Padres belt three home runs in blowout of Rays

Padres belt three home runs in blowout of Rays thumbnail
Field Level Media

Manny Machado homered among his three hits and drove in four runs, fueling the San Diego Padres to a 13-5 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday in St. Petersburg, Fla.

David Peralta belted a two-run homer, Xander Bogaerts also went deep and Donovan Solano had a two-run single and drove in three to highlight San Diego’s 13-hit attack.

The Padres scored eight runs on eight hits in the first three innings after being limited to three hits in a 4-1 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday.

The offense was more than enough for San Diego starter Martin Perez (4-5). The veteran left-hander overcame a rocky beginning to pick up the win after allowing four runs on seven hits in five innings. He walked three and struck out four.

Tampa Bay’s Yandy Diaz belted a two-run homer among his two hits before exiting in the fourth inning due to left knee patellar tendinitis. Taylor Walls had a two-run single and scored on Jonathan Aranda’s groundout in the eighth inning for the Rays, who fell for the sixth time in their past eight games.

San Diego started off with a flourish against Taj Bradley (6-9), with Machado’s single to right field scoring the first run of the game in the first inning. Bogaerts added a sacrifice fly and rookie Jackson Merrill plated Machado with a single to center to give the Padres a 3-0 lead.

Jake Cronenworth’s RBI single in the second inning extended San Diego’s advantage before Machado deposited a 0-1 fastball from Bradley over the wall in center field for a three-run homer. The long ball was Machado’s 23rd of the season and third in five games.

Bradley permitted eight runs on as many hits in 2 1/3 innings to fall to 0-5 i0n his past six starts. He fanned two and issued two walks.

Tampa Bay responded with four runs in the bottom of the second, highlighted by Diaz’s 12th homer of the season and second in three games.

The Padres scratched for a run in the third inning before Peralta deposited a 3-2 fastball from Erasmo Ramirez over the wall in right field for a two-run homer in the fourth.

Bogaerts went deep in the ninth inning, and Solano added a two-run single to cap the scoring.