A day after exiting after four innings with cramping in his right calf, Manny Machado is back in the lineup at third base and in the three-hole as the Padres look to secure a season-opening four-game sweep of the Atlanta Braves.
Sunday’s first pitch is 4:10 p.m. on ESPN.
The Padres haven’t won four in a row to start a season since 1984, when they swept the Pirates in a two-game series in San Diego and followed that up with two wins against the Cubs.
They’ll attempt to repeat the accomplishment of the franchise’s first NL pennant winner with almost the same lineup as the previous two games. The only change is Elias Díaz getting the start behind the plate and in the nine-hole instead of Martín Maldonado, who caught the previous two games.
Machado seemed to be trending in the right direction after exiting after the fourth inning on Saturday. The cramping surfaced on a swing during his at-bat. He flied out on the next pitch and was replaced by Jose Iglesias at third base.
After the game, Machado told reporters, “I’m good. It’s just a little cramp. I think (manager Mike Shildt) did the right thing taking me out, being precautionary so it doesn’t become something more.”
It generally takes quite a bit of pain for Machado not to play.
He infamously avoided the injured list after a bad ankle sprain in 2022, played through elbow tendonitis for some two years before finally having surgery after the 2023 season and has played in at least 150 games in nine of his first 13 years in the majors.
“Manny’s one of the toughest hombres in the business,” Shildt said Saturday night. “ … He posts. He shows up, you know? He was raised to go play. Now of course, a day like (Saturday), got a situation where we don’t want to see it get any more serious. We’ll see about (Sunday). But you know this guy, if he’s banged up, bruised up, he’s gonna post, and that’s what winning players do. And Manny’s a winning player, and he likes to play baseball.”
Machado is 2-for-9 with two doubles, an RBI, three runs scored and two steals to start the year.
Fernando Tatis Jr. and Jackson Merrill are tied for the team lead with five hits each and Merrill leads the Padres with four RBIs.
On the flip side, Luis Arraez (0-for-9) and Jason Heyward (0-for-8) are still looking for their first hits of the season, as are bench options Iglesias (0-for-2) and Brandon Lockridge (0-for-2).
Here is how the Braves will line up for the series finale looking to avoid a four-game losing streak:
Sunday’s pitching matchup
Braves RHP AJ Smith Shawver (0-0, 0.00 ERA in 2024)
The 22-year-old debuted in 2023 but made just one start last year (4 1/3 IP) before he was asked to start in place of an injured Chris Sale in the wild-card series against the Padres. Smith-Shawver allowed three runs on four hits and a hit batter in 1 1/3 innings.
Only catcher Elias Díaz (1-for-3, HR, K) has regular-season history with Smith-Shawver, but Tatis Jr.’s two-run homer was among the four hits that he allowed the Padres in Game 1 of the wild-card series last October. Arraez and Merrill both singled and Jake Cronenworth was hit by a pitch before he was lifted.
Padres RHP Nick Pivetta (6-12, 4.14 ERA in 2024)
The former Red Sox starter is making his Padres debut after posing a 3.38 ERA across four Cactus League starts (13 1/3 IP). Pivetta struck out 10 over 11 innings (4.09 ERA) across two starts last year against the Braves (1-1), but he has a 4.93 ERA over 100 1/3 career innings against Atlanta.
Here is how Pivetta has fared against current Braves:
