San Diego Padres third baseman Manny Machado. Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports

Watch: Padres star reaches major milestone with mammoth HR

By Adam Gretz | Last updated 7/15/23

San Diego Padres star Manny Machado reached a significant personal milestone on Saturday afternoon by clubbing the 300th home run of his career in a 6-4 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies.

There was nothing cheap about it, either.

Machado reached the milestone by crushing a 425-foot no-doubter home run to the second deck of Citizens Bank Park to temporarily give the Padres a 4-3 lead in the eighth inning.

Have a look.

Machado is the only player in Major League history to have signed two different $300M contracts (both with the Padres) so it is somewhat fitting that he hit home run No. 300 with the team.

The bad news for the Padres is that lead would be short lived as their bullpen was unable to hold onto it, allowing three runs to the Phillies in the bottom of the eighth inning.

The Padres have been one of baseball's biggest disappointments this season and are four games under .500 heading into the second half of Saturday's doubleheader. They had World Series expectations after another round of star player additions this offseason but have been unable to put it all together.

Machado has had a good season, but it is not up to the standard he has set for himself offensively. That is just one of the many reasons San Diego has struggled so much.

Philadelphia also had a slow start to the season after last year's trip to the World Series, but have rapidly turned things around and are one of the hottest teams in baseball over the past two months.

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