Padres slugger Machado draws first 1st pitch clock violation in pre-season game

Tick, tock, Manny Machado. Better watch that pitch clock.

Baseball's new timing device made its big-league debut Friday during a limited schedule of spring training openers and wouldn't you know it, it was Machado, the San Diego Padres' all-star slugger, not a pitcher, who was called for the first violation.

Machado found out the hard way that the pitch clock works both ways. He wasn't fully in the batter's box and facing Seattle Mariners left-hander Robbie Ray as the 15-second clock wound under eight seconds in the bottom of the first inning in Peoria, Ariz. Umpire Ryan Blakney called time and signaled strike one against Machado, who finished second in last season's National League MVP race.

Machado was hardly fazed. The veteran third baseman singled on a 2-1 pitch and then collected another single his second time up.

Machado, who batted between fellow superstars Xander Bogaerts and Juan Soto, laughed about it afterward.

"Going into the record books, at least. That's a good one. Not bad," Machado said. "I might just be 0-1 if I can get two hits every game."

If Major League Baseball was looking for immediate results from the new rules designed to improve pace of play, including the pitch clock, it got them. The Mariners won 3-2 in two hours 29 minutes, which is fast for any game, spring or regular season. In nearby Surprise, the Kansas City Royals beat the Texas Rangers 6-5 in 2:33.

Padres manager Bob Melvin said he walked over to MLB officials Morgan Sword and Mike Hill afterward and said: "If this is going to be the pace of these games, I'm OK with it."

The game "felt really fast at the beginning. Guys were looking at the clock, Manny makes history with the first infraction in major league history, another feather in