Luis

Campusano

The Padres are rolling with the same starting nine that they did in Game 1, the only change is that Salas and Xander Bogaerts have swapped lineup spots and Luis Campusano will do the catching with Salas serving as the DH. Here’s how they’ll line up against Brewers’ right-hander Logan Henderson on Sunday: Fernando Tatis Jr. (RF), Dustin Harris (LF), Manny Machado (3B), Ty France (1B), Jackson Merrill (CF), Salas (DH), Xander Bogaerts (SS), Luis Campusano (C) and Jake Cronenworth (2B).

Salas earns his second consecutive nod behind the plate as the Padres kick off a best-of-five matchup against a powerhouse Brewers squad. The 20-year-old prodigy, who is a revelation from a defensive standpoint, has gone 1-for-2 with an RBI in the postseason. Here’s the full lineup: Fernando Tatis Jr. (RF), Dustin Harris (LF), Manny Machado (3B), Ty France (1B), Jackson Merrill (CF), Xander Bogaerts (SS), Salas (C), Luis Campusano (DH) and Jake Cronenworth (2B).

The biggest surprise here is sparkplug Samad Taylor getting a chance to face Cubs lefty Matthew Boyd in the second spot in the order with Dustin Harris presumably set to come off the bench in his place once Chicago goes to the bullpen. Here’s the full lineup as San Diego kicks off the postseason at Petco Park with Michael King on the hill: Tatis Jr. (RF), Taylor (LF), Manny Machado (3B), Ty France (1B), Jackson Merrill (CF), Austin Hays (DH), Xander Bogaerts (SS), Jake Cronenworth (2B) and Luis Campusano (C).

Campusano also singled. The 27-year-old continued his strong campaign at the plate by taking Paul Blackburn deep in the bottom of the 10th to give the Padres a much-needed win in their quest to clinch one of the final postseason berths in the National League. He’s been limited to just 56 games, but in those contests he’s now hit six homers, driven in 25 runs and slashed .283/.364/.465. You can do a heck of a lot worse than that.

Salas wouldn’t be called up unless he was going to play, so expect him to do a lot of the catching over Freddy Fermin. Luis Campusano could function as more of a DH with Gavin Sheets and Luis Rengifo on the IL. Salas, still just 20 years old, has shaken off a couple of injury-filled seasons to hit .296/.374/.448 with 10 homers and 17 steals between Double- and Triple-A this year. He probably won’t be of use in one-catcher mixed leagues right away.

Freddy Fermin has now started eight of 12 games behind the plate, with Campusano catching four times and DHing once during that span. Campusano is out-OPSing Fermin .904 to .568, but Fermin’s defense matters more to Craig Stammen. The Padres have gone 36-26 with Fermin starting.

The Padres are giving Luis Campusano a very rare start at DH with Freddy Fermin catching tonight, so there’s no room for Rengifo against a lefty. The switch-hitting Rengifo is hitting just .213/.283/.278 versus southpaws this season, though he’s at .344/.417/.469 in 37 plate appearances against them since joining the Padres and he’s been better versus lefties over the course of his career.

Campusano’s two doubles both came at great times for the Padres here. His first brought home two runs with the bases loaded in a tie game in the fifth and knocked out Guardians’ starter Gavin Williams. Then, after the Guardians scratched across a run in the sixth, Campusano’s next two-bagger gave the Padres another insurance run. He lost two months of his season to injury, but has been highly productive otherwise with a .317 batting average and .935 OPS in 145 plate appearances.

The Brewers got one in the top of the 11th, but it wasn’t enough. It initially looked like Jackson Merrill hit the game winner with one out and runners on first and third in the bottom of the inning, but right fielder Luis Lara made a fantastic leaping catch to turn it into a sac fly. After a stolen base put the winning run on second, Campusano hit a low liner to right for a clean single. Lara’s throw home seemed to be in time to retire the runner, but Gary Sánchez jumped to catch the ball when it really didn’t seem like he needed to and then couldn’t get the tag down in time. It gave the Padres a three-game sweep with two one-run victories and an 11-2 blowout.

The Padres still won’t give Campusano DH time, but at least he’s starting at catcher more frequently than Freddy Fermin right now. He’s batting .311/.410/.513 in 139 plate appearances.