Manny Machado joined an elite club on Monday night in San Diego.
The Padres star picked up the 2,000th hit of his career in their 6-3 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks. Machado officially reached the mark in the fourth inning of the contest, when he hit a single off Zac Gallen that barely made it past shortstop Geraldo Perdomo and into left field.
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Naturally, that led to a big ovation at Petco Park.
Machado entered the night two hits shy of the milestone. He hit a single into left field in the first inning, too. He then backed his historic hit up with a solo home run in the eighth inning, too.
Machado is now just the fifth active player in Major League Baseball to record at least 2,000 career hits, and the 297th player in league history. He is also just the 12th player to record 2,000 hits with 350 home runs by his age-32 season. The home run on Monday was the 357th of his career.
Machado now has 950 total hits with the Padres, who he signed with as a free agent in 2019. That has him in fifth on the franchise’s all-time hits list. Machado first made his debut in the league with the Baltimore Orioles in 2012, and he had 997 hits there before he landed with the Los Angeles Dodgers seven seasons later.
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By comparison, Dodgers star Freddie Freeman is the active hits leader in Major League Baseball. He entered Tuesday with 2,357 career hits — though he’s nearly 2,000 short of all-time leader Pete Rose. Jose Altuve, Andrew McCutchen and Paul Goldschmit are the other active players over the 2,000 hits mark.
Despite a big night from Machado, who went 3-of-5 at the plate, the Padres couldn’t rally back to top the Diamondbacks. The loss, their third in five games, dropped them to 48-42 on the season.
