Ty France pitched. Austin Hedges played 3rd base. And those are not the strangest things to happen at Petco Park on Sunday afternoon.
The Padres lost to the Marlins 9-3, dropping two of three at home to the team with the worst record in the National League. The game was delayed in the 3rd inning when a swarm of bees commandeered a microphone on the netting near the 1st base dugout.
Someone in a protective suit sprayed down the microphone instead of removing them safely, something the franchise is already taking a lot of heat for. The game was delayed for 28 minutes.
Before and after the delay, Padres starter Matt Strahm was not as sharp as we've seen him recently. The lefty gave up seven earned runs in just 4.2 innings. Marlins catcher Jorge Alfaro got Strahm for a 2-run home run, part of a career-high 4 RBI day for Alfaro.
San Diego only had four hits for the game and two of them were home runs by Hunter Renfroe, giving him 17 for the season and moving him past Franmil Reyes for the team lead. His 2nd dinger came in the bottom of the 9th inning when it was already 9-1 Miami. That was the score that gave us the someone odd top of the 9th.
Already down by eight and trying to save his bullpen a bit Padres manager Andy Green sent rookie 3rd baseman Ty France to the mound and had catcher Austin Hedges backfill France at 3rd. Hedges didn't get a chance at 3rd because France got a grounder to short and a pair of weak fly balls to right field to toss a scoreless inning.
It was certainly NOT the way the Friars wanted to open their 10-game homestand.
