San Diego Padres first baseman Ty France put on a defensive clinic which helped pitcher Lucas Giolito and the Padres squeak past the Athletics with a 2-0 win at Petco Park on Saturday. The win also gave San Diego another series win with a chance for a sweep with Michael King taking the mound in Game 3.
San Diego broke the scoreless tie in the bottom of the third inning after Fernando Tatis Jr. was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to give the Padres a 1-0 lead. San Diego was unable to find a hit to break the game open before the inning ended.
France erased an Athletics runner with an unassisted double play in the top of the third inning. Carlos Cortes walked to open the inning, but Nick Kurtz hit a groundball at France. The first baseman fielded the ball, tagged Cortes who was trying to go back to first base, and the stepped on the bag to complete the double play. San Diego added a run to its total in the bottom half of the inning when France hit a ground ball through the middle of the infield with runners at second and third that allowed Nick Castellanos to score from third base.
France struck again in the top of the fourth inning when the Athletics loaded the bases with one out. Jeff McNeil hit a groundball to France who fielded the grounder and threw to second for the front end of the double play and then retreated back to the base to receive the return throw to end the inning and the scoring threat.
Darell Hernaiz opened the top of the fifth inning for the Athletics with a leadoff single. Cortes then hit a line drive down the first base line and France snared the ball over the bag for an out and stepped on first base to double off Hernaiz who never had a chance to get back to the bag.
After those highlight-type plays, it was only fitting that France fielded a ground ball off the bat of McNeil and flipped the ball to closer Mason Miller who was covering the base for the final out of the game. The play secured the two-run win for the Padres and gave Miller his 16th save of the season.
San Diego will try to sweep the Athletics at Petco Park today at 1:10 p.m.
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