The San Diego Padres entered play against the Chicago Cubs with an impressive record, boasting the best in Major League Baseball (14-3), and a perfect home record of 11-0 at Petco Park. Only two teams in history— the 2009 Los Angeles Dodgers and the 2023 Tampa Bay Rays— have started their home schedule with longer win streaks. The atmosphere is electric in San Diego as they begin this season.

They say luck is as important as skill, and that’s certainly true given the Padres’ success at home. On Tuesday night against the Cubs, star player Manny Machado benefitted from a bit of good fortune during his fifth-inning at-bat. Right fielder Kyle Tucker and third baseman Gage Workman both let foul popups slip through their fingers, setting the stage for Machado to hit a home run.

This at-bat extended pitcher Shota Imanaga’s outing as well, adding to his pitch count before he was pulled from the game.

In-Game Highlights

Here are details of the incident, including Machado’s homer and the two dropped flies:

“Tucker and Workman both were charted with errors on the dropped popups, which should have ended the inning. This meant Imanaga was spared from an earned run on Machado’s homer due to the defensive failings.” (Translation: The dropped fly balls would have secured the third out of the inning.)

At 32, Machado entered the game with impressive statistics, boasting a .317 batting average, .394 on-base percentage, and seven doubles, but only one home run to his name. He has successfully stolen six bases without being caught, showcasing a surprising capability in the base paths this season. San Diego’s roster as a whole has proven to be aggressively efficient on the bases.