Luis Campusano's walk-off homer lifts Padres past Yankees in series opener

Kevin Acee, The San Diego Union-Tribune on Sep 5, 2026

Published in Baseball

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SAN DIEGO — Luis Campusano arguably saved the game three times before he won it.

On a night in which he threw out three runners trying to steal, including for the second out in the 10th inning, Campusano homered on the first pitch he saw in the 10th inning to give the San Diego Padres a 3-2 walkoff victory over the New York Yankees.

The victory moved the Padres a half-game up on the Arizona Diamondbacks in the race for the National League’s final playoff spot.

Walker Buehler and four relievers hung on through nine innings before the Yankees scored in the 10th inning against Mason Miller.

After Miller kept the game tied with a nine-pitch ninth, Spencer Jones lined his first pitch in the 10th, a 100 mph fastball in the heart of the strike zone, into center field to score automatic runner Luis Garcia Jr.

Jones went to second on center fielder Jackson Merrill’s throw home, but he was thrown out by Campusano trying to take third on the pitch that struck out Heliot Ramos.

Pinch-runner Dustin Harris began the bottom of the 10th on second base. Xander Bogaerts struck out before Campusano walked to the plate to face Paul Blackburn.

The Padres got three of their four hits and scored their only run against left-hander Max Fried in the second inning.

Ty France led off the bottom of the second with a double grounded just inside of third base and to the corner in left field. He went to third on Jackson Merrill’s sacrifice bunt and scored on a broken-bat single lofted into shallow center field by Xander Bogaerts.

Campusano followed with a single before Jake Cronenworth grounded out.

The Padres did not get another runner in scoring position after that.

The Yankees got the leadoff runner on against Padres starter Buehler in the first two innings. Neither advanced, the second of them because Campusano threw him out trying to steal second base for the final out of the second.

Buehler got the first two outs of the third inning before Ben Rice’s 36th home run of the season sailed to the batter’s eye beyond center field to tie the game 1-1.

It was the 11th time in the past 15 innings the Padres have scored that their opponent scored in the next half-inning.

A misstep on the bases cost them a chance at retaking the lead in the bottom of the third.

With two outs, Manny Machado hit a fly ball into shallow left field that fell fair. He accelerated shortly after rounding first base and slid into second base just ahead of Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s tag, but both feet came off the bag as Machado popped up from his slide and was called out.

Luis Garcia Jr. led off the fourth with a single, but Buehler’s sixth strikeout and a double-play grounder ended the inning.

Again in the fifth, a walk to Chisholm got Buehler into the stretch. But Campusano threw out Chisholm trying to take second, and two groundouts followed.

With Buehler having thrown 76 pitches and about to get through the lineup a second time, Padres manager Craig Stammen went to Yuki Matsui, who survived a one-out single by Rice in a scoreless sixth.

Fried was making his second start since coming off the injured list after being sidelined for two weeks with a bone bruise in his left elbow. He was operating within a limit of 75 pitches, and that got him two outs deep in the sixth inning.

Will Warren, who has made 26 starts this season, relieved him and walked France before getting Merrill to ground out.

Bradgley Rodriguez recorded a 1-2-3 seventh inning, and Adrian Morejón did the same in the eighth.

Warren retired the Padres in order in the seventh and eighth.