SAN FRANCISCO — The Padres found a way again.

Ty France found a way.

Sent to the plate as a pinch hitter with two outs in the seventh inning with one strike against him, France worked the count full and then lofted the seventh pitch he saw down the right-field line.

As the ball fell, right fielder Jesus Rodriguez dove to try to make what would have been an inning-ending catch, but the ball bounced off his glove and rolled into the corner while two Padres baserunners raced home and France slid head-first into third base.

That gave the Padres a lead they would add onto before closing out a 5-1 victory and a series win over the Giants on Wednesday at Oracle Park.

It was among the more clutch at-bats of the season, and it was entirely on brand for the Padres of 2026.

Not only did France’s hit provide the edge for the Padres in their 11th victory (of their 22 total) earned in the seventh inning or later, the heroics required some good fortune and masked the fact that they had three hits to that point and had the 17th quality start thrown against them in 36 games.

So it is that a riddle of a season continued, as the often-anemic Padres won for the third time in four games. That came after they lost five times in six games, which came after a 16-3 stretch, which followed a 2-5 start.

Their formula for Wednesday varied on the pitching side.

The Padres began the game with an opener for the first time this season, and it worked magnificently.

Bradgley Rodriguez retired the Giants in order in the first inning. Matt Waldron took over and allowed one run on two hits while striking out seven batters in his five innings.

Adrian Morejón allowed one hit over the next two innings before Mason Miller worked a 1-2-3 ninth.

Xander Bogaerts, who entered the game at shortstop after France pinch hit for Sung-Mun Song, hit a two-run homer in the eighth inning.

A solo home run for each side — Gavin Sheets into the bay in the fourth inning; Rafael Devers the other way and just over the wall in left field in the fifth — had the game tied 1-1 when France came to bat.

Giants starting pitcher Adrian Houser had allowed three hits and walked one while throwing just 73 pitches through six innings.

He appeared to get the first out of the seventh when Fernando Tatis Jr. grounded a ball to third base, but Matt Chapman had the ball go off his glove and into left field.

With that, Giants manager Tony Vitello went to reliever Keaton Winn, who began his day by walking Ramón Laureano before retiring Nick Castellanos and Freddy Fermin.

With the left-handed-hitting Song due up, Vitello made another change, to left-hander Matt Gage.

When Gage completed his warm-up pitches, Song walked to the plate and got in the box before France emerged from the dugout.

Home plate umpire Tripp Gibson assessed the Padres a pitch clock violation, and France faced an 0-1 count.

After fouling off successive 2-2 pitches, he watched a ball in the dirt and then went the other way with a fastball left up and in.

©2026 The San Diego Union-Tribune. Visit sandiegouniontribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.