France 'feeling like the old Ty again' after another big night at plate
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SAN DIEGO -- Ty France homered, Randy Vásquez pitched seven excellent innings, and the Padres opened their homestand with a convincing 6-2 victory over the Twins on Friday night.
In the process, they remained a game ahead of Arizona in the race for the final National League Wild Card spot. Here are some takeaways from Petco Park:
Vive Ty France
What a pickup France was.
Drafted in the 34th round by San Diego in 2015, the Padres reunited with France this offseason on a Minor League deal with an invite to Spring Training. He’s emerged as arguably their best hitter and a fixture in the cleanup spot -- not to mention an elite defender at first base.
“We knew he was a solid player, going to play great first base and give you really good at-bats,” said manager Craig Stammen. “Did we see him hitting 4-hole and leading our offense the way he is? I don’t think so. But I also think his greatest impact has been in the clubhouse.”
France got the Padres on the board in the first inning on Friday night with a no-doubter of a two-run homer to the second deck in left field. It was his 18th of the season and the 99th of his career. He tacked on a pair of walks and a sacrifice fly, along with more stellar first-base work.
It was quite a display from France, who was facing his former club. He played 101 games with the Twins last season before he was traded to Toronto at the Deadline. France’s OPS with the Padres is .872, nearly 200 points better than his time in Minnesota last season.
“I’m just feeling like the old Ty again, which is nice,” France said. “It was a rough two-year stretch where I kind of lost it a little bit.”
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France credited some minor mechanical tweaks for his turnaround -- and one in particular. After he arrived in Toronto last summer, the Blue Jays hitting staff noticed that his hands were behaving a bit differently during his load. He was moving them back, rather than up.
France says that shift -- minor as it might seem -- has allowed him to thrive at the plate.
“It’s nice feeling confident again,” France said. “And feeling like myself.”
A workmanlike rally
The evolution of the Padres’ offense was on full display in the fifth inning Friday night. They spent so much of the first couple of months toiling to try and find rallies like this one.
Austin Hays, a post-Deadline pickup, started the rally with a nine-pitch battle against Twins starter Connor Prielipp. He legged out an infield hit. Then, with one out, Jake Cronenworth worked a tenacious walk, turning the lineup over.
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Twins manager Derek Shelton stuck with Prielipp against the top of the San Diego order for a third time, and the Padres made him pay. Fernando Tatis Jr., Luis Rengifo and Manny Machado lined three successive RBI singles. France capped the four-run rally with a sac fly.
“It was just a fun inning of baseball,” Stammen said. “You’re hitting the holes, hitting opposite-field singles, hitting bullets the other way, going first to third and getting the crowd going. … Those innings are a lot of fun.”
The Padres had a four-run lead after five, with a fresh bullpen. Pretty much game over. The last 16 Twins hitters went down in order -- including the final three via Mason Miller strikeouts.
Vásquez preserves that ‘pen
Handed a four-run lead, Vásquez went to work. He retired the last 10 hitters he faced and completed seven innings -- marking an entire turn through the rotation of quality starts for the Padres.
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Vásquez finished with two runs allowed on two hits without any walks. His command dipped a bit in the fourth inning, when the Twins scored both of their runs. But otherwise, Vásquez attacked and induced plenty of weak contact. In other words, he did what he does when he’s at his best.
“Obviously, you see on the scoreboard that it’s a four-run lead, but in my mind, I have to keep the same mentality as if it’s 0-0,” Vásquez said through interpreter Jorge Merlos. “I’m just keeping my head up, making sure that I keep my same plan of attack.”
On the whole, it’s been a remarkable turnaround for this Padres rotation -- obviously aided by the Deadline arrivals of Casey Mize and Robbie Ray. In the entirety of June and July, Padres starters combined for just six quality starts. Since the Trade Deadline, they’ve gotten 10 in 17 games.
“That’s the mentality of each one of us -- to go out there and have a good, quality start,” Vásquez said. “That’s how we’re pushing each other.”