Ty

France

France isn’t likely to wear Twins’ colors if he’s elected to Cooperstown (note, he’s not going to be elected to Cooperstown, respectfully), but he did take some revenge against a former club of his with a two-run shot in the first inning. He’s been one of the best rebound stories in baseball this year, and now has 18 homers along with a slash of .293/.353/.521. You cannot call this anything but a remarkable season for France, especially based on the less-than-lofty expectations.

It appears to be nothing more than a routine breather for the 32-year-old first baseman. Jake Cronenworth will slide over and cover first base on Friday night while Sung-Mun Song will start at second base and bat ninth against Astros’ right-hander Ronel Blanco.

The RBI came on a sac fly in between the doubles. It was his 50th in 315 plate appearances this season. His .869 OPS is 116 points higher than anyone else on the Padres with at least 200 plate appearances. Fernando Tatis Jr. is next at .753.

With a .287/.343/.536 line, 16 homers and 49 RBI, France has been the Padres’ most valuable position player four months into the season, even though he spent the first 2 1/2 of those sitting more than half of the time. The team actually though Nick Castellanos was the better option for playing time initially.

France broke a scoreless game in the third inning with a single to drive in two runs for the Padres. He later gave the Padres an insurance run with a base hit in the eighth to score Jake Cronenworth from second. The 32-year-old first baseman is hitting .283/.336/.549 with 16 homers and 46 RBI across 269 plate appearances.

The Padres scored 11 times in the final two innings, with the last six runs coming off position player Tyler Tolbert in the ninth. France’s slam came off Lucas Erceg in the eighth. It was his second career slam. He’d been without one in 78 career plate appearances with the bases loaded coming into the season, but he’s had two in 11 chances this year. He also now has three two-homer games this year after racking up just two in his first seven seasons. He mostly just started against lefties initially, but it’s now been a month since he was left out of the Padres’ lineup as a healthy scratch. He’s batting .275/.335/.537 in 243 plate appearances.

Down by one run with two outs in the ninth inning, France socked a 421 foot home run off Alex Lange to send this game to extra innings. The Padres’ bullpen imploded in the bottom of the 10th, but it was still a great moment for France. That was his 12th home run of the season to go along with a .268/.328/.502 slash line through 71 games.

France broke a 7-7 knot with a homer to left field to give San Diego the 8-7 lead and ultimately the victory. The 31-year-old has been a surprising source of power for the Padres in 2026, as he’s up to 11 homers on the campaign with an excellent .490 slugging percentage. Skepticism is understandable, but don’t forget that France was a solid option not that long ago. It’s not insane to think he’s refinding that form in his return to his first organization.

It looks to be nothing more than a routine night off for the versatile 32-year-old. Cronenworth had started every other game during the week at either first base or second base. Ty France will start at first base and will bat sixth for the Padres against Blue Jays’ right-hander Shane Bieber.

France is back at first base and hitting fifth after being hit by a pitch on the wrist over the weekend. The 31-year-old was able to come off the bench during Sunday’s series finale against the Dodgers after X-rays came back negative for any fractures. It doesn’t appear to be a serious concern moving forward.