ESPN News Services
Jul 15, 2023, 06: 35 PM ET
San Diego Padres slugger Manny Machado belted his 300th career home run Saturday to continue his July power surge in a loss to the Philadelphia Phillies.
Machado’s homer off Matt Strahm (6-3) to lead off the eighth inning in Game 1 of Saturday’s doubleheader put the Padres up 4-3 in a game that they eventually lost 6-4. It was Machado’s eighth home run of the month and his fourth in the past three games.
“What he’s done in the last couple of weeks has been pretty torrid,” Padres manager Bob Melvin said.
Machado became the 11th active player to reach the 300-home run milestone. Three other players — Nolan Arenado, Freddie Freeman and J.D. Martinez — have also hit No. 300 this season.
Among the 18 third basemen to accomplish the feat, only Hall of Famer Eddie Mathews hit No. 300 at a younger age than Machado, who turned 31 on July 6.
“He has been absolutely on fire,” Melvin said. “Now he has over 50 RBIs just over the halfway point. What he has done the last couple of weeks — I don’t want to say you expect it from him; it has been pretty torrid.”
Overall, Machado is batting .260 with 17 home runs and 51 RBIs this season.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.