The San Diego Padres have had a disappointing start to the season…no one can sugarcoat that. But on Thursday, their bats finally woke up and put a 10 spot on the first place Giants to avoid a series sweep. Blake Snell was excellent yet again, as he tossed 6 innings of shut out ball with 11 K’s. That was Snell’s third straight game with 11+ strikeouts and the Padres are now 36-39, just three games under .500.

Here are three takeaways from the game:

Manny Machado gets hot

Manny Machado is hitting just .258 with 9 home runs and an OPS of .723 this season and Padres fans have been frustrated with his play after demanding a contract extension last summer (which the team gave him). However, on Thursday afternoon Padres fans got a glimpse of the Superstar Machado can still be as he went 2-4 with a 3-run homer in the 3rd inning that helped pad the lead against the Giants. This was Machado’s first home run since June 15th, but he has gotten 8 hits in his last 6 games and is starting to heat up. With the way Fernado Tatis Jr. and Juan Soto are hitting right now, if Machado can continue his hot streak the Padres could make a run at some point.

Blake Snell is finally the ace the team thought he’d be for them

As I mentioned in the introduction, Snell has struck out 11+ guys in 3 straight games and has an ERA of just 0.36 with 43 strikeouts in 25 innings pitched in the month of June. Overall after a rough start to the year, Snell now boasts an ERA of 3.22 and a WHIP of 1.23 with 104 strikeouts on the season as a whole. The Padres need Snell to continue to miss bats and dominate because Yu Darvish and Joe Musgrove have struggled tremendously this season and haven’t shown many efforts in turning it around.

Gary Sanchez gets hot again after major slump

After a blazing start to June where he recorded 5 home runs in the first 11 games of the month, Gary Sanchez entered Thursday’s contest 0 for his last 18 at bats and in the biggest slump of his season so far. Sanchez broke out in a huge way on Thursday afternoon going 3-5 with 3 RBI’s including a 3-run home run in the 1st inning to jumpstart the big day from the Padres lineup. On the season, Sanchez has 7 homers and an OPS of .769 in just 76 at bats so far and if he can become consistent at the plate, it will take the Padres lineup to a whole other level.

The Padres now await the Nationals for a a 3-game series in San Diego starting Friday. First pitch is scheduled for 6:40 PST.