The Los Angeles Dodgers made one of the bigger trade deadline acquisitions in recent years over the All-Star break when they acquired Baltimore Orioles shortstop Manny Machado in exchange for five prospects.
With the second half getting underway, the four-time All-Star made his Dodgers debut on Friday night in the team’s 6-4 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park.
Machado shined in his first Major League game on a team other than the Orioles, reaching base four times in five plate appearance, behind two singles and two walks.
After the game, Machado discussed how it felt to get his first game with the team under his belt while also coming away with a victory, via Stephen Cohn of MLB.com:
“It was awesome,” Machado said. “It was amazing to go out there and put on that uniform. Just happy to be here with these guys: a great group, great team, great leadership.”
Machado went from being on the worst team in all of baseball to the reigning National League champions, who are also currently in first place in their division. So he has perfect reason to feel rejuvenated going into the second half and a potential pennant race.
The acquisition of Machado strengthens the Dodgers lineup greatly, even if teams pitch around him as the Brewers did on Friday.
He hit second in the lineup in his debut, and Chris Taylor and Max Muncy, hitting in front of and behind him, respectively, combined to go 4-for-8 with a walk, three runs scored and two RBI. So Machado’s presence on the team was immediately felt.
With a tough stretch of games on the horizon, trading for Machado when they did is something that Dodgers general manager Farhan Zaidi said played a factor in the acquisition.
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