SAN DIEGO — Ty France homered, Randy Vásquez pitched seven excellent innings, and the Padres opened their homestand with a convincing 6-2 victory over the Twins on Friday night.

Here’s some instant reaction from Petco Park:

What a pickup France was.

Drafted in the 34th round by San Diego in 2015, the Padres reunited with France this offseason on a Minor League deal with an invite to Spring Training. He’s emerged as arguably their best hitter and a fixture in the cleanup spot — not to mention an elite defender at first base.

France got the Padres on the board in the first inning on Friday night with a no-doubter of a two-run homer to the second deck in left field. It was his 18th of the season and the 99th of his career. He tacked on a pair of walks and a sacrifice fly, along with more stellar first-base work.

It was quite a display from France, who was facing his former club. He played 101 games with the Twins last season before he was traded to Toronto at the Deadline. France’s OPS with the Padres is .872, nearly 200 points better than his time in Minnesota last season.

The evolution of the Padres’ offense was on full display in the fifth inning Friday night. They spent so much of the first couple months toiling to try and find rallies like this one.

Austin Hays, a post-Deadline pickup, started the rally with a nine-pitch battle against Twins starter Connor Prielipp. He legged out an infield hit. Then, with one out, Jake Cronenworth worked a tenacious walk, turning the lineup over.

Twins manager Derek Shelton stuck with Prielipp against the top of the San Diego order for a third time, and the Padres made him pay. Fernando Tatis Jr., Luis Rengifo and Manny Machado lined three successive RBI singles. France capped the four-run rally with a sac fly.

The Padres had a four-run lead after five, with a fresh bullpen. Pretty much game over.

Vásquez preserves that ‘pen

Handed a four-run lead, Vásquez went to work. He retired the last 10 hitters he faced and completed seven innings — marking an entire turn through the rotation of quality starts for the Padres.

Vásquez finished with two runs allowed on two hits without any walks. His command dipped a bit in the fourth inning, when the Twins scored both of their runs. But otherwise, Vásquez attacked and induced plenty of weak contact. In other words, he did what he does when he’s at his best.

On the whole, it’s been a remarkable turnaround for this Padres rotation — obviously aided by the Deadline arrivals of Casey Mize and Robbie Ray. In the entirety of June and July, Padres starters combined for just six quality starts. Since the Trade Deadline, they’ve gotten 10 in 17 games.