ATLANTA _ Padres pitchers have all season enjoyed the security provided by the gloves behind them, golden at three infield positions and bolstered by a rookie shortstop who has made plays both spectacularly and reliably.
Monday night at SunTrust Park, that shortstop was resting a sore hamstring while his replacement was making it hard on Padres rookie Nick Margevicius, who had one of his best outings against one of the majors' best-hitting teams but took the decision in a 3-1 loss to the Braves.
Greg Garcia, starting in place of Fernando Tatis Jr., singled and scored in the top of the first.
But it didn't go well after that.
The Braves took a 2-1 lead in the third inning on a sacrifice bunt that Garcia helped turn into a Little League triple for Atlanta starting pitcher Mike Soroka.
The bunt was fielded in front of the plate by first baseman Eric Hosmer, who threw on target and on time to second base, where Garcia was covering. But Garcia, making his third start of the season and first at shortstop, seemed surprised by the throw.
The ball sailed past a frozen Garcia and into center field, where it also eluded the backhanded stab of Manuel Margot and rolled another 100 feet, almost to the warning track before left fielder Hunter Renfroe chased it down.
By that time, Johan Camargo had scored and Soraka had easily made it to third.
Ozzie Albies followed with a line drive single to right field that scored Soraka before Margevicius (2-3) got out of the inning having allowed just the two unearned runs.
Ronald Acuna Jr. got to second base at the start of the bottom of the fourth inning when his grounder bounced off Garcia's glove and rolled into left field. Margevicius overcame that error sans further damage by getting three straight groundball outs.
Albies would finish with two of the Braves' four hits off Margevicius, as his 401-foot shot to the second deck of seats beyond left field gave the Braves a 3-1 lead in the fifth inning.
Margevicius' 5 2/3 innings against the team with the National League's highest on-base percentage and second-highest slugging percentage ended when was removed with the bases loaded and two down in the sixth. Adam Warren replaced him and retired pinch-hitter Charlie Culberson on a line drive.
Soroka, with a mid-90s fastball that set up a change-up and slider that frequently sent Padres batters lunging, allowed four hits in his six innings.
Margot led off the third with an infield single, but was stranded after getting to second on Margevicius' sacrifice bunt. Manny Machado walked and Hosmer followed with a single to start the fourth, but they were left on as well. Soroka (2-1) retired the final nine batters he faced.
Before the game, manager Andy Green would not detail his decision to start Garcia at shortstop and Ian Kinsler at second base rather than have Machado slide from third base to shortstop and start Ty France at third. Green said it was what he thought worked best and wanted to give Garcia another start after he homered and played a solid second base Sunday in Washington.
France did end up making his major league defensive debut, entering at third base in the bottom of the seventh inning as part of switch that involved incoming reliever Robbie Erlin being inserted into Kinsler's spot in the batting order. At that time, Machado moved to shortstop and Garcia to second.
The Padres again had runners at first and second with one out in the eighth inning before Franmil Reyes flew out to right field and Machado popped out to first base.
