Stammen accidentally puts France down 0-1 ... then watches him get the hit of the game

SAN FRANCISCO -- With the game on the line in the seventh inning Wednesday afternoon, Ty France was in the batting cage just down the dugout steps at Oracle Park, when field coordinator Vinny Lopez hurriedly rushed in.

“He said, ‘Hey Ty, you’re hitting,’” France recalled in the aftermath of the Padres’ 5-1 victory over the Giants. “I said: ‘When?’”

Lopez’s response: “Right now.”

France went into scramble mode. He grabbed his bat off the rack. He rushed to get his batting gloves on. He hurried up the steps and through the dugout, when manager Craig Stammen stopped him.

Sung-Mun Song was already in the box, and Stammen had a moment to consider the consequences.

With two men aboard in a tie game, the Giants had called for lefty reliever Matt Gage to face Song. It only made sense for Stammen to counter with a righty bat like France. But, by his own self admission, Stammen was “late” in his decision to pinch-hit.

So, Stammen could let Song bat in an unfavorable matchup. Or, he could send France to the plate and accept a pitch-clock violation, putting France in an instant 0-1 hole. Eventually, Stammen chose the latter. France didn’t seem to mind.

“I’ve been 0-1 thousands of times,” he said.

Such is the nature of the Padres’ excellent bench production this season, that even when there’s a snafu in the process -- a major snafu in this case, at the game’s decisive moment -- they still get the hit they need.

France, despite starting the count behind, got to work. He battled for eight pitches. (Well, technically seven, not counting the automatic strike.) He worked the count full.

“It was a whirlwind, but it all worked out,” France said. “You just treat it like another at-bat.”

With the count full, France got a fastball from Gage and shot it into the right-field corner. The Giants’ Jesus Rodriguez, playing his first game in right, dove and couldn’t make the play. France sped into third base with his second triple of the season, plating two runs and giving the Padres a 3-1 lead.

“I don’t know if the manager put him in the best spot to succeed,” Stammen said. “But we got him out there, and he came through, made me look good.”

To be clear: Stammen was highly accountable. He’s a rookie manager who has pulled plenty of the right strings early this season, especially with his bench. But in no uncertain terms, this was a mishap -- a potentially major mishap in a key moment. The situation called for a righty bat. And the Padres didn’t have a righty bat at the ready.

“I was looking at the reliever warming up, thought I had a few more pitches, and then he was ready and Song was in the box,” Stammen said. “I was just late on that.”

Or, put more succinctly: “I put [France] down, 0-1. I basically threw a strike to him, first pitch.”

There were other considerations at play, of course. This didn’t just happen in a vacuum. Naturally, the Padres would want to keep their move hidden, forcing the Giants into a mound visit. They were also trying to stay away from Luis Campusano after he fouled a ball off his foot in Tuesday’s game.

France was suddenly the backup catcher. The Padres needed to make sure he would stay in the game if he pinch-hit -- which he did, replacing Gavin Sheets at first base. (That’s also the reason Stammen didn’t pinch-hit for the light-hitting Freddy Fermin a batter earlier.)

Meanwhile, Stammen was also juggling whether he should use Xander Bogaerts or France in that spot. He was trying to give Bogaerts a full day off -- though that didn’t end up happening. Bogaerts entered for Song defensively -- and proceeded to mash a towering two-run homer to put the game out of reach in the eighth.

“We end up playing him anyway -- and he hits a big homer,” Stammen said.

It was a fairly succinct summary of one of the Padres’ biggest strengths this season -- their bench. Stammen has regularly given his starters time off, preferring to keep his bench active.

As a result, those starters are fresh, and that bench is highly engaged.

“A lot of guys that maybe aren’t having everyday at-bats are swinging really well,” Bogaerts said. “So it just gives the manager more options.”

Said France: “If you look just down our entire roster -- whether it’s the superstars, the mid-tier guys or the bench guys -- it’s just a talented roster. It’s an established group and a veteran group, the amount of talent that we have. We’re baseball players. We know our job. We know what we have to do.”

Still -- for as much as Stammen trusts his bench -- he acknowledged being hugely relieved when France’s triple fell in down the right-field line.

“The favor of the lord resting upon me at that point,” Stammen said with a self-deprecating grin. “Sometimes things work out in your favor.”