Padres Manager Offers Ominous Update on Manny Machado Injury

J.P. Hoornstra | Jun 7, 2024

Jun 5, 2024; Anaheim, California, USA; San Diego Padres third baseman Manny Machado (13) leaves the game with an injury in the fourth inning at Angel Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports / Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

Manny Machado is not in the San Diego Padres' lineup Friday for the second game of their four-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks. The same hip injury that forced him to leave Wednesday's game in Anaheim against the Angels also limited him to one at-bat Thursday as a pinch hitter.

Officially, Machado is "day to day" with a mild or low-grade right hip flexor strain. It's an uncomfortable level of uncertainty for a team that has lost five consecutive games, and can't afford to lose the firepower of one of its best offensive players. Machado was batting .356 in 13 games prior to the fateful game Wednesday in Anaheim, with hits in all but one of those games.

The padres will start veteran utility player Donovan Solano in Machado's place on Friday. Manager Mike Shildt also has veteran Tyler Wade, a left-handed hitter, on the bench as a potential platoon partner with Solano in the meantime. Wade got the start at third base against the Diamondbacks on Thursday.

How long will that meantime last, exactly?

“The next couple days will tell us,” Shildt told reporters, including Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune.

It's a tough place to be in, both for Machado and the team. While both parties would ideally like Machado to rest up between now and September for a stretch playoff run, the Padres could use a clutch hit. They've lost five in a row by a combined six runs, and Shildt bemoaned the lack of "big hits" in an interview earlier Friday.

Machado is good for nothing if not big hits. His 25 RBIs with runners in scoring position this season rank second on the team.

“He’s a competitor,” Shildt said of Machado, via the Union-Tribune. “He likes to play baseball. I love that about him. He likes to be in the lineup. He doesn’t like the IL, all the good things that we expected of a player, including Manny. But yesterday was a decision we had to make to kind of self-regulate him a little bit and make sure we didn’t get anything that was going to drag on or get worse.”