Campusano walks it off in 10th, beats Yankees 3-2
Luis Campusano hit a 10th-inning walk-off homer and threw out 3 base-stealers in a 3-2 win over the Yankees, snapping a 6-game skid in one-run games and moving San Diego to 74-67.
Six straight one-run losses end on Campusano's walk-off
The Padres beat the Yankees 3-2 on September 4 in a walk-off win in the 10th, with Luis Campusano ending it. New York had gone ahead 2-1 in the top of the 10th on a go-ahead hit from Spencer Jones, after Austin Hays struck out with the winning run on third in the bottom of the ninth to send the game to extras in the first place. San Diego had lost its previous six one-run games, according to Padres beat writer AJ Cassavell of MLB.com, before Campusano ended that run with one swing.
Yankees3-2Walker Buehler started and worked 5.0 innings, allowing 3 hits and 1 earned run with 6 strikeouts against 2 walks. Adrian Morejon and Mason Miller combined for the final two frames of relief before the walk-off, with Morejon striking out 3 in a hitless inning and Miller working 2.0 innings, allowing 1 hit with 4 strikeouts and no walks. The win moved San Diego to 74-67 on the season, and it came with Joe Musgrove still on the 60-day IL — his rehab assignment was paused this week over trouble recovering between starts, per Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune.
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Campusano went 2-for-4 with a home run and 2 RBI, capped by the walk-off, but the homer wasn't the whole night. He also threw out three base-stealers behind the plate, a combination AJ Cassavell of MLB.com called a feat not seen in 65 years. Cassavell wrote that the Padres' longstanding belief in Campusano paid off on a night that could tilt the playoff race, framing it as the payoff for years of the club sticking with him through the ups and downs.
Padres broadcast was shocked that the Yankees elected to leave their challenge on the table after this very close play in extras.
The performance came in the middle of a pennant race, which is what made it notable beyond the box score — a backup catcher who barely played last season deciding the game from both sides of it. Cassavell's account is also the source for the six straight one-run losses the win snapped, tying the throwing and the hitting together as the same story: a night San Diego needed, delivered by the same player twice.
Upcoming
San Diego hosts the Yankees again this afternoon, with Robbie Ray (11-7, 3.14 ERA) starting for the Padres against Carlos Rodón (4-3, 3.20 ERA) for New York. Ray's last start came on August 30 against Tampa Bay, a no-decision in which he worked 6.0 innings, allowed 3 hits and 1 earned run with 4 strikeouts against 3 walks over 93 pitches. Rodón took a loss in his last outing on August 29 against Boston, giving up 2 earned runs on 3 hits over 4.2 innings with 5 strikeouts and 1 walk on 88 pitches.
The market favors the Padres for the rematch, and the total points to a low-scoring game — consistent with both starters' recent lines, neither of whom has allowed more than 2 earned runs in his last start. San Diego sits with a 12-game elimination number in the NL Wild Card race, half a game ahead of Arizona, and every game against a Yankees club still playing meaningful September baseball carries weight for both sides of that number.