Padres’ Wacha takes no-hitter into eighth vs. Royals, Machado’s X-rays negative after HBP

Padres pitcher Michael Wacha took a no-hitter into the eighth inning in the team’s 4-0 win over the Royals on Monday. Star infielder Manny Machado also exited the game after being hit by a pitch. Here’s what you need to know:

Wacha threw a career-high 11 strikeouts, allowed one hit and walked one batter on 103 pitches. He was at 101 pitches through seven innings and went back out for the eighth, giving up a single to Michael Massey before being replaced on the mound by Nick Martinez.
The 31-year-old Wacha has twice taken a no-hit bid into the ninth inning (in 2013 and 2018, when he was with the Cardinals). Including those earlier two games, this was Wacha’s third career outing in which he went seven or more innings and allowed only one hit.
Machado left the game during the fourth inning after being struck on his left hand by Royals pitcher Brad Keller in the second inning. X-rays on Machado’s hand came back negative, San Diego manager Bob Melvin said after the game.

The Athletic’s instant analysis:

The decision to send Wacha out for the eighth

Melvin was somewhat reluctant to allow Wacha to take the mound in the eighth. Wacha’s career high for pitches is 119. He has a significant injury history that includes a 2022 injury list stint for shoulder inflammation. So, as Wacha’s pitch count climbed near 100, Melvin was antsy.

“My starting pitchers were giving me a little bit of a hard time because they were having a good time with it but they knew I was not,” said Melvin, who suggested he might have pulled Wacha even if the pitcher had completed the eighth inning without allowing a hit.

Wacha, understandably, wanted to keep going. He successfully lobbied for at least one more batter after the seventh inning. Normally a heavy sweater who goes through multiple jerseys in a start, he wore the same top and the same baseball cap for his entire outing.

“I was doing the math,” Wacha said. “Would’ve loved a three-pitch inning there in the eighth and another one in the ninth.” — Lin

The significance of a mid-May win over the Royals

The rebuilding Royals are as bad as their 12-31 record suggests. Still, the disappointing Padres savored Wacha’s performance and the team’s first win in six games.

While Wacha chased San Diego’s second no-hitter, Keller bid for a different kind of history. The Royals starter became the first pitcher since Victor Zambrano in 2004 to throw at least 90 pitches in a major-league game and record no more than 39 strikes. The Padres’ situational-hitting struggles continued — they finished 2-for-9 with men in scoring position and stranded 11 runners — even as they leveraged Keller’s wildness in drawing 10 walks and a potentially costly hit-by-pitch.

“It might have got a nerve or something like that,” Melvin said. “For (Machado) to come out of a game, it can’t feel too terribly good. He’s got quite a pain tolerance. He’ll get a lot of treatment. We’ll see how he is (Tuesday).

If Machado misses at least a game, the Padres likely would slide Ha-Seong Kim to third base and increase playing time for Matt Carpenter and/or Rougned Odor. It would be far from ideal, but Machado, who has a .654 on-base plus slugging percentage, has been emblematic of a collectively underperforming offense.

Meantime, Wacha lowered his earned-run average to 4.06 with one of the sharpest games of his career. This month, Padres starters have pitched to a 2.54 ERA.

“We’ve been struggling a little bit,” Wacha said, “but this clubhouse is full of guys that are confident and know that things will turn around.” — Lin

Backstory

Wacha has tossed 44 1/3 innings over eight starts this season. He has allowed one run in 19 innings over his last three starts.

Machado, 30, is batting .231 with five home runs this season. He agreed to an 11-year, $350 million contract extension with San Diego last offseason.

The Padres are 20-22 this season, sitting at third in the National League West.

Required reading

(Photo: Matt Thomas / San Diego Padres / Getty Images)