Padres vs. Braves. Game Highlights (7/20/26) | MLB Highlights

It's game one of four between the San Diego Padres and the Atlanta Braves. The Padres racked up 19 runs on 19 hits. They beat the Royals and salvaged the last game of the series. As the Braves bats have been hot, we'll see if they can continue those hot hitting ways here against the Padres who swept the Braves last month. And Bryce Elder leading the boys out there, making the start tonight. We know the story, CJ. He's had some bumps and bruises as of late after beginning the year so strong. Hopefully he can get it going in the right direction tonight. A little bit of a break, right? Ten games in between, excuse me, ten days in between his last start here for Bryce Elder. And we know, as you mentioned, how important he was to this team at the beginning of the season. We need him to find a way to recapture that again now. The Braves owe the Padres a couple of losses because the Braves are 1-9 against the Padres in the last ten. And the Padres swept Atlanta out in San Diego last month. Fernando has homered each of the last two games. And Tatis certainly seems to be leading the charge offensively for the Padres. Whoa! There goes the bat. Not only did he toss it, but he tossed it with some velocity behind it. That was a low liner that went into that net pretty hard against the Bryce Elder cutter. And that's ball four. A leadoff walk for Fernando to start things here in the first inning. Jackson had a huge day yesterday as well. And a finale against the Royals after going hitless in the first two games. Golfering on the way, Merrill swings and misses for strike three. He went high with a fastball, and Merrill went after it. Fernando with that lead at first, not going. A bunt bid here by Machado. Dropped on the third baseline. It'll be an infield bunt single. Yeah, they weren't expecting that from Machado. I wasn't expecting it. Were you expecting that, Don? Hey, the element of surprise. You never know what you're going to see when you come to the old ball yard. A little smirk from Manny. And the Padres now two on and one out for maybe their hottest hitter, not named Tatis, Ty France. Both runners go. Play it back. Crosshairs right on Tatis. And he catches him stealing. Padres attempting a double steal. A weird series of events here for the San Diego Padres. France grounds to third. Riley has it. And just like that, the threat is over. On the bound for the San Diego Padres is J.P. Sear. 30-year-old left-hander. Fifth start of the season. Third on the road. A fifth career against these Braves. Boy, he did a number on the Braves his first time out this season. Five and two thirds. Scattered two runs. See what the left-hander can do this evening here in Atlanta. The Braves come to the plate with the National League Player of the Week, Drake Baldwin. He's going to lead it off. You had that historic game yesterday. Five for five. Two homers. Throw in a stolen base for good measure. First five-hit game by a Braves catcher since Johnny Estrada 22 years ago. Here's a three-and-one. Baldwin swings. Chops it on the ground to second base. Backhanded by Cronenworth. Long throw to first is in time. And one away. So Baldwin will not continue his success, at least in his first at-bat. And now against the Padres this year, 0 for 11 with eight strikeouts. This is to the left. And Sheets will move over to make the catch for out number two. Two down in the first for Matt Olsen. The pitch from Sears. And Olsen swings. Sends it in the air to shallow center. Merrill charging straight in. He's going to get to the spot and make the catch. Stand it. Easy breezy. One, two, three. Bottom of the first inning for J.P. Sears. Bryce Elder has faced seven batters at this point. One hit allowed. One strikeout. One walk. And he'll face Fermin, Song, and Tatis on the top of the third. Got him. Slider. Swing and a miss by Fermin. Two Ks for Elder. How good, again, the slider was at the beginning of the year. It's been a rough stretch over his last seven where he hadn't thrown particularly well. And the slider is getting hit hard. 379 batting average against him. But that was a nice-looking, sharp one there. Another strikeout. This time on the changeup. A good combination here from Bryce Elder. First, it's the slider. He threw another good one. And how about the depth and the bite that he gets on that changeup going down to get the punch out. That's a good one. Going to pop up. Shallow right. Albies and Olsen going out. White coming in. Olsen emphatically calls them all off. And in shallow right, he makes the catch. And that's out number three. So the Padres go down one, two, three in the top of the third. We go to the bottom of the inning. No score. So far, so good for Sears despite the fact that he has not been getting ahead of guys. Joey Bard leads off. And that one drops in there for strike three. First K of the night for J.P. Sears. Throws him. Boy, he thought that that ball was going to be off the plate. Or that thing broke in there quite nicely. On the ground of the middle. And diving. The shortstop Song fires to first. And he got him. Nice play by Song. Right in behind the bag at second. And Sung Moon Song takes a hit away from Jim Jarvis. Two down in the third inning. No challenge. Nice play by Song. Two down. Two down for Eli Weiss. A right fielder. Yes. Swing and a miss. Another good inning from Sears. He's retired the first nine Braves in a row. So Manny Machado will dig in. Had the bunt single back in the first inning. The only Padre hit of the night so far. The first bunt hit for Manny since September of 2017. What are the odds on a Machado bunt here? Well, since it's once every ten seasons, I think probably not that high. Here's a drive out towards deep left center field. Michael Harris going back. He's at the wall. In it. Manny Machado connects and puts the Padres on top of his 20th home run of the year. The guy can bunt. He can hit the long ball. Well, he got a slider from Elder. You hang it. He bangs it. Solo shot gives the Padres a one-nothing lead. Feels like the Braves have had some okay swings, but yet Sears is perfect so far. One out for Ozzie Albiz. Ozzie, there's the first Braves. Base runner and base hit. He'll stop at first with a single. The Braves finally break through versus Sears. Ten in a row to begin the game now over. Now the Braves have a man on board for Matt Olsen. Pitch coming and a ground ball to first base. Backhanded by France. Goes to second. That's one. Song back to first in time. And a 3-6-3 double play to end the fourth inning. We talk about hard hit balls a lot with Michael Harris. And with the production yesterday, back up over 300 for batting average, 17 homers, three off his career high. Harris puts it in the air toward the chop house. Just enough mustard. Now you can feel it coming, right? There's been some close calls, particularly off Austin Riley's bat. Sears, a fly ball pitcher, does give up a lot of home runs. Not many to lefties, but Michael Harris doesn't care about that. And just enough to get it out for Michael Harris to tie this game up. Here comes Dubon, and he sends one out to first. Sliding stop by France. Up on his feet, steps on the bag. Impressive play. Two down. Catcher's interference. Oh, yes. But for me, I was wondering why he stopped running. And we don't really see that from Mauricio. Of course, it did look like it was going to be a routine out, but I'm like, that's not really him. And now we know why. So instead of two outs and nobody on, Dubon will read still only one away. And now Bart up to the plate, who's 0 for 1 with a strikeout. Sharp and fair. Just fair. Dubon racing to third. He's grabbed the lead. That was aggressive. Now, she ties a pretty respectable arm. What you got was a baseball that looked like it kind of got stuck against the wall. So an aggressive send and a smart send. Padres are into the pens. J.P. Sears goes to first five, and Wandi Peralta takes over. Swing and a miss, and Baldwin strikes out. He's 0 for 3. And still hitless against the Padres this season. One down. He's one out of two with a single and a fly-in. Hits one high and deep to left field. Flying back very quickly to the wall. That's gone into the Padres bullpen. And the Braves hit a home run again. Their second of the night. It's now a 3-1 lead. And that's a big one for Ozzie, swinging it from the right side against the lefty Peralta. Home run number 15 for Ozzie Albee. Bryce Elder starting the seventh inning of his night here. The only mark against him, that solo homer by Machado. It's Ty France to lead it off. In the air to left field. Dubon going back at the wall. It is gone. Ty France is homer again. His 15th of the year. The Padres are back within a run. Don't throw him a mistake because he will make you pay. There's a two-seamer that's right down the middle. And he leans on this one. And it's time for Ty to flex. Flex those muscles. That'll be the last pitch fired by Bryce Elder. So the Braves will go to the bullpen. It'll be Danny Young coming out. And another interesting nugget. He has yet to allow a hit to a right-handed batter. And that's what we're seeing right here. The switch inning for Enjifo. Enjifo. He's got a base hit into right field. Well-placed. Albies was over towards second base. That right side was open. And he goes through it to get into right. Base hit. Tying run aboard here in the seventh. So out number one. And now the tying run at second base for the Padres here in the seventh. Big two-hopper out there to Jarvis Glove. Right in front of second. Sends it over to first base for the out. So two away. Enjifo now at third. Luis Camposano will be caught upon the pinch hit. That's going to prompt Joey Bart to go out to the mound. And Walt Weiss to come out and dip back into the bullpen. And Victor Medeiros. He pitched the two innings on Friday against the Rangers. Also had that two RBI hit. A big spot here for him. Three and two. This will be the eighth pitch of the IPAD. Medeiros deals. Camposano takes. Way outside ball four. So both pinch hitters this inning reach safely. And now runners on the corners. Two outs for Sung Moon Song. Out to center. And Michael Harris will set up shop. And take it. And the Braves maintain that three to two lead. Medeiros loving it. It is still Victor Medeiros on the mound for the Braves. He'll be facing the top of the Padre order. Still the top ERA in the National League for bullpens. Yeah, they've been doing a great job all year. Now, of course, tonight looking a little bit different here. With most of the big arms down because of the work that they've been doing. Two down here in the eighth. So far so good for Victor Medeiros. Michael Harris. Back to take it. What a job by Medeiros. You can see the emotion, the energy. He's loving it. Victor Medeiros. This is just his 17th Major League Baseball game. He hasn't had these opportunities often. In fact, he has never had a save at the professional level. He's got a chance to change that here tonight. What a big spot. What a big opportunity. He struck him out. Ninety-seven on the top shelf. Here's Renifo. And these two guys were teammates with the Angels. They know each other. So that adds to the plot here in the top of the ninth. Ground ball. And Renifo gets the better of Medeiros with a one-out single. And the Padres have the tying run on base here in the ninth inning. One out. They've got him at first base for Xander Bogarts. Softly out to center. Harris charges. He gets there. Lost his hat. Found the baseball. Two down in the ninth. And now Jake Cronenworth will hit with the Padres down to their final. Aussie. Bobbles it. Medeiros. Fabos. Braves win. Coming into this game, there was some concern about the state of the bullpen, what was going to be available tonight. And Victor Medeiros was one of the arms that was available. And my goodness, does he step up in such a huge way here. And the Braves get just enough offense to get this one across the finish line in winning fashion.