San Diego Padres first baseman Ty France and third baseman Manny Machado want Major League Baseball to find a better technological solution for plays like the one that became the defining moment of Saturday night's 3-2 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 1 of the National League Division Series at American Family Field.

With San Diego trailing 3-2 in the top of the ninth, France came to the plate with one out and Dustin Harris on first base. He drove a 98 mph fastball from Brewers closer Trevor Megill to left field with a 105.3 mph exit velocity and a 49-degree launch angle. The ball struck a roof cable at American Family Field before falling back toward the field, where Jackson Chourio made the catch near the warning track.

The umpires determined the ball had hit the roof structure over fair territory, meaning it remained in play under American Family Field's ground rules. A challenge by Padres manager Craig Stammen was unsuccessful, and France was ruled out. A batted ball striking the roof, a roof truss or roof cable over fair territory stays live, while one hitting the roof over foul territory is ruled dead.

France believed the play deserved a clearer determination with the technology currently available in baseball.

“You would think with all the technology and data and everything we have now, we'd be able to make a clear call on that,” said France postgame. “I don't know if that's ever been done before. We've got ball tracking, we've got exit velocity, we've got projected distances. We have all that stuff.”

Machado also urged that MLB should use available technology to make such calls more precise.

Article Continues Below

“I do know the fact that with all the technology we have in this game, I think that's one of the situations where you kinda know what's gonna happen,” he said. “How the ball's hit, the launch angle, everything. They put it up on the board. … We should have the technology to have a better call there.”

However, the available numbers indicate that France was not necessarily robbed of a home run. After hitting the roof, the ball traveled 325 feet, with Statcast projecting it would have been a home run at only one MLB stadium: Daikin Park in Houston. No ball in the Statcast era with a 105 mph exit velocity and 49-degree launch angle has resulted in a home run, Timothy Burke posted on Bluesky. Those batted balls have produced a .037 batting average and zero homers.

San Diego also had other chances, leaving 12 runners on base and going 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position. Milwaukee completed the comeback after falling behind 2-0, with Chourio's two-run homer tying the game in the third and William Contreras' seventh-inning solo shot providing the winning run.

The Padres will try to level the series Sunday when Michael King starts Game 2 Sunday against Brewers rookie Logan Henderson.