Padres notes: Manny Machado hotter than the weather; Stephen Kolek quality again; rotation plans

ST. LOUIS — The Padres and Cardinals played the past four days in the kind of humid heat that tests even those who grew up in places where the summer air is suffocating.

Like Manny Machado.

After running sprints in the outfield about four hours before the first game here Thursday, Machado guffawed at the suggestion that his workout was anything special because of the heat.

“I’m from Miami,” he said then. “This ain’t nothing.”

At the end of the series, which concluded with the Padres’ 9-2 victory in Sunday’s game, during which the heat index reached 111, Machado didn’t hesitate.

“Yeah, it’s pretty hot,” he said.

Machado arrived in St. Louis having gotten two hits on Wednesday in Miami, and he didn’t cool down.

He is now riding a five-game multi-hit streak after having one of the best four-game series of his career.

Machado was 4-for-5 with three RBIs and two doubles Sunday and finished with a career-high 11 hits in the four-game series.

He was 11-for-17 with three doubles and a home run and was hit by two pitches in St. Louis.

He is batting .619 (13-for-21) over the past five games, his first time since 2022 with at least two hits in five consecutive games.

“I love playing,” Machado said. “And going out there and grinding and playing and trying to help your team win, I can’t beat that. That makes you better every single day. And with the group that we have here, I know we have a special thing to accomplish, and we can accomplish it. Ultimately, I’ve got to be at my best. If I do that, we’re gonna put ourselves in a really good spot, and everyone is gonna contribute to the success.”

Kolek does his job

Stephen Kolek got another double play, a bunch of ground balls and enjoyed an ever-increasing lead on Sunday.

“Was able to execute well enough and put us in a good spot to have quick innings and keep the offense rolling and get the guys out of the heat,” he said.

Kolek did not allow a run until issuing a lead-off walk to Ivan Herrera and then a homer to Alec Burleson in the sixth inning.

He finished off that inning by getting his eighth groundball out and then a fly ball out and pop out to complete his four-hit, three-walk, two-strikeout day.

It was Kolek’s fourth quality start, two fewer than Dylan Cease in seven fewer total starts. His 17 double plays lead the National League even though his 79⅔ innings are 41⅓ fewer than second-place David Peterson of the Mets, who has gotten 16 double-play grounders.

Kolek fell one out shy of finishing six innings after allowing the Marlins their third run of the game in the sixth inning on Tuesday in Miami. That was his first start following an extended break in Triple-A, where he made just one brief start, as the Padres gave him a break in the midst of his first season as a starter in the major leagues.

“It was a good, I guess, mental reset and physical reset as well,” Kolek said. “Just kind of give my body and mind a break. It’s my first time starting in a couple of years. So a lot of different stress and all the preparation, everything in it, but I feel like it was a good little reset and ready to keep going.”

The Padres have not set a hard innings cap for Kolek, but the fact he was allowed to throw 98 pitches Sunday is an indicator they are not holding him back.

Kolek pitched 46⅔ innings out of the bullpen in his first big-league season last year. He worked 143⅔ in Double-A in 20022, his most recent season as a starter.

Pitching plans

The Padres have not said what their rotation plans are beyond Cease starting Monday’s game against the Mets.

The team listed its starters for the final two games of the series at Petco Park as “TBD.”

It seems likely Ryan Bergert will be called up to start Tuesday with Yu Darvish being pushed back at least a day. If Darvish is pushed back only one day, to Wednesday, Nick Pivetta would not pitch until Friday against the Cardinals following an off-day on Thursday.

The Padres said over the weekend Darvish is healthy and felt strong following his start here Thursday.

He has allowed 17 runs in 16⅔ innings in four starts since returning from an elbow issue that caused him to be shut down in the middle of spring training.