DENVER — The Padres won’t get very far next month without Manny Machado rounding back into form. The same goes for Dylan Cease.

The two stars aligned Sunday.

Machado’s first-inning homer got the Padres started on a good, old-fashioned Coors Field laugher, Dylan Cease turned in his best start in nearly a month and an 8-1 win kept the Padres just a game behind the Dodgers in the NL West.

Beyond the division, a Cubs loss shaved their deficit in the race for the NL’s top wild-card spot to three games and a Mets loss improved the Padres’ cushion against the current third wild-card team to two games.

Machado had plenty of help.

Jackson Merrill hit his first homer since returning from the injured list during a three-hit game and Gavin Sheets and Ramón Laureano added tape-measure shots as the

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