Machado homers as Padres beat D-backs 10-7 to clinch home field in wild-card round vs Cubs

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Manny Machado hit a three-run homer and the San Diego Padres beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 10-7 on Saturday to secure the No. 4 seed in the National League playoffs.

San Diego will host every game in a best-of-three Wild Card Series against the fifth-seeded Chicago Cubs beginning Tuesday. The winner faces the NL Central champion Milwaukee Brewers in a best-of-five Division Series.

The Cubs eliminated the Padres 2-1 in the wild-card round at Chicago last season.

Xander Bogaerts also went deep for the Padres (90-71), who clinched their club-record third straight 90-win season and seventh in team history. They earned their franchise-best third consecutive postseason berth with a 4-2 win Thursday night at the NL West champion Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Diamondbacks had their six-game winning streak snapped but remain alive for the NL’s third wild-card spot. They are one game behind Philadelphia going into Sunday’s season finales and hold the tiebreaker. The Phillies lost their fourth straight game, 12-1 to AL East champion Tampa Bay.

Arizona’s Gabriel Moreno hit an RBI single and went 1 for 3 with a walk to keep his average at .311, just ahead of injured Phillies infielder Luis Arraez (.310) in the race for the NL batting title.

Moreno’s spot in the order came up after Mason Miller loaded the bases with no outs in the ninth, but the Diamondbacks sent pinch-hitter Adrian Del Castillo to the plate and he struck out. Miller allowed three runs.

Machado hit a 1-1 pitch from Jose Cabrera (0-4) into the home run porch in the right-field corner for a 6-4 lead in the fourth. That gave Machado his eighth career 30-homer season, tying Arizona’s Nolan Arenado and Philadelphia’s Kyle Schwarber for the most among active players.

It was his fourth 30-homer season with San Diego, tying Adrian Gonzalez for the most in team history.

The Diamondbacks went ahead 4-3 in the top of the fourth on James McCann’s two-run homer to straightaway center off Walker Buehler.

Arizona led 2-1 in the third before the Padres went in front on Ty France’s RBI groundout and Gavin Sheets’ RBI double that center fielder Tim Tawa lost in the lights and twilight sky.

Bogaerts hit a solo homer in the two-run fifth, and Jake Cronenworth added a two-run single in the sixth.

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Yuki Matsui (5-1) got the win in relief.

Up next

Diamondbacks RHP Michael Soroka (9-5, 3.31 ERA) is scheduled to pitch the season finale Sunday. The Padres will counter with Randy Vásquez (10-6, 4.01).

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See AP’s full MLB coverage here