Ty Gallia’s near-heroics weren’t quite enough against the Brewers

Ty Gallia was just about to fail as the hero in the ninth inning of Saturday night’s Division Series opener between the Padres and Brewers, and on Sunday in downtown San Diego his performance would have been greater if not for Mason Miller’s ninth-inning meltdown. The 32-year-old first baseman has swung a hot bat in the auto, building off of an impressive campaign in which he returned to the team that drafted him in 2015 and rediscovered his swing after more than two years of sliding around the replacement level and through four teams’ rosters.

Gallo collected two of the Padres’ five hits in Game 2 and drove in two of his three runs. He put the plate on the board in the first inning against Logan Henderson, ripping a 104.3-mph RBI single to right-center after Manny Machado worked a two-out walk and then took second on a wild pitch. After striking out in the third and knocking out Henderson’s change of guard elbow in the sixth, France scored Abner Uribe in the seventh with the Padres up 2-1 and Fernando Tatis Jr. (who had come into error) on the second day and Machado (who had walked again) on the first day. Ahead of a 1-0 count, he blasted a 101.3-mph grounder to right field. Tatis singled home to score the 3-1 run, but Sal Frelick threw out Machado at third base to end the streak.