Machado (HR), Sheets (two 2Bs) impress in Padres’ spring opener
PEORIA, Ariz. — Baseball is back (Spring Training baseball at least), and the Padres got their Cactus League slate underway on Friday afternoon at Peoria Stadium.
Here are three takeaways from their 5-2 victory over the Mariners in the spring opener:
1) A healthy Manny
This time a year ago, the Padres were easing Manny Machado into action after he’d undergone surgery to repair the extensor tendon in his right elbow. Machado spent the early part of the regular season at DH and would not play third base until late April.
This spring? Machado is healthy. Lest there be any doubt, he launched the first pitch he saw 428 feet to straightaway center field, a two-run blast halfway up the batter’s eye at Peoria Stadium.
“Manny healthy is clearly a good sign,” said Padres manager Mike Shildt. “And it’s a good sign for the first swing to get that nice easy stroke into center field for a two-run homer.”
Machado followed with a lineout to right on the first pitch of his next at-bat, and that was the end of his afternoon — two pitches, two swings, two hard-hit baseballs.
In recent seasons, Machado has regularly downplayed the nature of his injuries. No player is ever 100%, he likes to say. But when camp began last week, Machado noted that — for the first time in at least two years — he felt 100% after an injury- and surgery-free offseason.
“It was great, man,” Machado said earlier this week. “Had my regular offseason routine — get ready, get strong and prepare for a long season. I wasn’t able to do that last year. So it was a fresh start.”
