Hosmer's great play deserves to be remembered

One of the things I don't like about baseball is how a great play can all but disappear in a loss.
That happened to Padres first baseman Eric Hosmer in the ninth inning Friday night.
Hosmer made a play just ahead of Ryan Braun's three-run homer that might be among the best defensive plays the Padres will make this season.
At the time of Hosmer's play, the Padres were clinging to a 6-5 lead with one out and the tying run at third.
Christian Yelich hit a shot toward first that Hosmer grabbed on a tough short hop. Most first basemen would have taken the out at first, with the runner on third scoring to tie the game. But Hosmer fired a bullet home from deep at first. Catcher Austin Hedges applied the tag to Brewers' shortstop Orlando Arcia to protect the Padres' one-run lead.

Take a closer look at that play. Arcia is no slouch when it comes to running the bases. And Hosmer was playing deeper at first. The throw not only had to be perfectly placed, it had to get there quick. And it did.
Had Brad Hand retired Braun -- and he was ahead 0-and-2 on the count when Braun homered -- everyone would be talking about Hosmer's play today.
Actually, we are.
Notebook
• One of the longest active streaks in baseball ended Friday night on Braun's homer. Until Friday, the Padres had won 127 consecutive games at Petco Park when taking a lead into the ninth inning. It was the longest such active streak in the Major Leagues.
• After a tough first inning, left-hander Joey Lucchesi settled in nicely Friday night in his Major League debut. Lucchesi allowed two runs on three hits in the first. Honestly, four of his pitches were hit hard. But starting in the second, Lucchesi went on a run, retiring 10 of 11 hitters before the Brewers' Lorenzo Cain doubled with one out in the fifth. Lucchesi is known for pounding the strike zone, which he did in his debut. He didn't walk a hitter and 55 of his 75 pitches went for strikes.

• Right-handed reliever Kazuhisa Makita also made his Major League debut Friday night and was in line to pick up the win before the ninth-inning melt down. The submariner issued a walk while needing only 13 pitches to negotiate 1 1/3 innings.
• 2B Carlos Asuaje got his first RBI of the season Friday night with a two-out double in the seventh. Asuaje tied for the Cactus League lead with nine hits with runners in scoring position during Spring Training.
• Hedges homered on his sixth at-bat of the 2018 season. Last year, he started the season going 0-for-24. Hedges' homer was the second half of the Padres' first set of back-to-back homers this season. Cory Spangenberg homered immediately ahead of Hedges.
• SS Freddy Galvis is the only Padre with two hits in each of the first two games of the season.