San Diego Padres third baseman Manny Machado is going through a brutal slump, though manager Mike Shildt is unwilling to give his star player a night off. Heading into Saturday's game against the Colorado Rockies, Machado is hitting .188/.246/.325 with four home runs and 13 RBIs over his last 30 games.

The Padres stayed 2 1/2 games behind the Dodgers in the NL West and four games ahead of the Mets in the race for the second of three NL wild cards. L.A. and New York both lost Friday, the Dodgers on a 10th-inning grand slam.

The Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres play two more in their weekend series at Petco Park, next entering a Saturday night first pitch in a first-place tie atop the National League West Division.

In last season’s MLB playoffs, the San Diego Padres came relatively close to toppling the dominant Los Angeles Dodgers. This year, the Padres are once more an underdog.

The Padres got a win before they lost Tuesday night. If not for the return of the pitcher who started opening day for the Padres and was arguably their best pitcher a year ago, a loss would simply be a loss at this point in the season for a team in a playoff race.

The Padres look Wild Card Series-bound. And unless they get red-hot during the season’s final 2 1/2 weeks, they’re probably going on the road for it. So … Game 1, Sept. 30, a potentially hostile environment -- who gets the ball?

Facing adversity, the Padres have leaned on one of the team’s brightest young stars, Fernando Tatis Jr., to shoulder the load. This is Tatis’ sixth season with San Diego. As a Padre, he has accumulated three All-Star selections, two Silver Sluggers and a Gold Glove for his spectacular defense.

Blaine Crim drove a three-run home run an estimated 439 feet for his first big league hit, Kyle Farmer homered on JP Sears’ next pitch and Tanner Gordon combined with three relievers on a five-hitter as the last-place Colorado Rockies beat the playoff-contending San Diego Padres 4-2.

As the regular season winds down, the Padres made a surprise addition to the 15-day injured list, announcing Friday that reliever David Morgan would be out with

But the Cincinnati Reds pulled a must-win series out of the fire with a comeback 2-1 victory over the Padres in San Diego that boosted them to just two games behind the New York Mets for the National League’s final playoff spot with 16 to play.

Preview the Sept. 12 matchup between the San Diego Padres and Colorado Rockies with odds over/under, game spread, betting lines and more.