San Diego Padres star Manny Machado helped spark a rally with an interesting tactic on Sunday against the Boston Red Sox.
The third baseman kicked a pickoff throw into foul territory, moving up two runners, who eventually scored. Machado later hit a three-run homer that helped give San Diego an 8-6 win.
Machado, a part-owner of San Diego FC, joked that he should play a different sport.
“I think I picked the wrong sport,” Machado told reporters. “FC should probably sign me up.”
Machado also said he didn’t intentionally kick the ball.
“Nah, I mean, I’m trying to get out of the way,” he said. “It was perfect timing. … I couldn’t be better than that.”
Machado said he was trying to get out of the way of what he thought was a low throw.
“I started low, obviously. So, I’m trying to decide if I’m going to slide or not, going back into the base. And then obviously, I saw the ball coming kind of down low so I kind of jumped up in the air. As I’m coming down and kind of my foot just came in, and I obviously hit it.”
Whether intentional or not, it helped give the Padres a win in the rubber match as they improved to 4-5 on the year.