SAN FRANCISCO -- In the past two offseasons, the Padres locked down their infield corners with franchise cornerstones on record-setting contracts. In 2018, they signed
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“You hit two homers in a game, that’s a good day,” France said.\n\nFrance probably didn’t envision his first multi-homer game coming as a second baseman. But ultimately, his bat was too good for the Padres to ignore. So they approached France with an idea this spring. Would he be open to playing some second base?\n\n“I really never even thought about second base until they asked me,” France said. “There was never a moment where I thought: ‘Maybe I'm a big league second baseman.’ I didn't even think about that. I was kind of just filling a need.”\n\nFrance had never played the position. But when they asked, he didn’t hesitate. If it put him on course for the big leagues, he was all for it. Sure enough, France has played a solid, though unspectacular, second base. Meanwhile, his bat could finally be translating.\n\n“He's making adjustments, and he's learning things,” said Padres manager Andy Green. “Since he's a smart guy, since he's a worker, you're confident he's going to continue to figure things out.”\n
France batted .399/.477/.770 with 27 home runs at Triple-A El Paso, en route to winning Pacific Coast League MVP honors this season. When Fernando Tatis Jr.’s season ended early because of a back injury, France was recalled, with Luis Urias sliding to shortstop.\n\nIf France hits like his Triple-A numbers suggest he can, it might present the Padres with something of a dilemma at second. Urias has long been considered the team’s second baseman of the future. But he’s struggled at the plate in limited playing time this season.\n\nThen again, so has France. He’s hitting just .231/.283/.381 in 49 games. The bar at the plate is higher for France, too, given what Urias brings defensively.\n
Still, if France begins to hit down the stretch, it could set up a nice spring competition in 2020 between France and Urias, with the lefty-hitting Greg Garcia in the mix as well.\n\n“We’ll see,” Green said. “Right now, the short term is all we’re really concerned with. He’s helped us win a baseball game today -- in a big way.”\n\nHomer-shy Hosmer\n\nHosmer doesn’t recall ever hitting for the cycle at any level. \n\n“Triples were tough,” he quipped. \n\nNot on Sunday. Hosmer sparked the Padres’ four-run sixth inning with an opposite-field liner off the wall in left-center. When he dove head-first into third base, it left him needing a home run for the cycle.\n
Hosmer came to the plate two more times, but he never got a pitch to do any damage with. He walked in the seventh, then struck out in the ninth.\n\n“Obviously you’re going for it,” Hosmer said. “It’s a great problem to have. When you’re one hit shy of the cycle, that’s a pretty good day.”\n\nStrong start, strong finish\n\n\nFrom the first out to the last, the Padres got contributions from some unlikely sources.\n\nGarcia opened the game with an eight-pitch battle against Giants right-hander Jeff Samardzija. On the eighth pitch, Samardzija grooved a fastball, and Garcia shot it over the right-field wall for his fourth homer of the season -- a career high.\n
“That one really felt good,” Garcia said.\n\n“That set the tone,” Hosmer said.\n\nEight Padres recorded hits, and
Then, in the ninth, Green went to right-hander