Luis Campusano spent nine innings taking bases away from the Yankees. In the 10th, he took the game. The Padres catcher turned on Paul Blackburn's first-pitch, 94.3 mph sinker and drove it into the left-field seats for a two-run homer, converting a one-run deficit into a 3-2 San Diego victory Friday night at Petco Park.
The ball left Campusano's bat at 104.6 mph, carried 394 feet and became his sixth home run of the season, according to Major League Baseball's tracking data. Automatic runner Manny Machado scored ahead of him. San Diego had managed one run through the first nine innings and entered the bottom of the 10th trailing for the first time all night.
That deficit arrived on Spencer Jones' run-scoring single off Mason Miller in the top half. Jones, an Encinitas native, brought home the automatic runner and then tried to steal third. Campusano threw him out. It was the catcher's third caught stealing of the game after he had also erased Trent Grisham in the second inning and Jazz Chisholm Jr. in the fifth.
The sequence made the finish more than one decisive swing. MLB reported that Campusano became only the second player since caught-stealing records began in 1951 to throw out three runners and hit a walk-off homer in the same game. His defense kept New York from widening the margin; his bat removed it before the Yankees could record a second out.
Earlier, Xander Bogaerts put the Padres in front with an RBI single in the second. Ben Rice answered in the third by sending a Walker Buehler pitch 444 feet to center for his team-leading 36th homer. The score stayed 1-1 from there through the ninth, even as both clubs moved into their bullpens.
Buehler gave San Diego five innings of one-run work and struck out six. Yuki Matsui used 12 pitches to finish the sixth, Bradgley Rodriguez needed nine in the seventh, and Adrian Morejon struck out all three batters he faced in the eighth on 14 pitches. Miller worked the ninth, returned for the 10th and limited New York to Jones' run-scoring hit.
New York starter Max Fried allowed four hits and one run over 5 2/3 innings. Will Warren followed with seven hitless outs, and David Bednar sent the game to extras. Blackburn did not preserve the lead, facing Machado and Campusano before the catcher's drive ended the game. The narrow finish reflected two rotations and bullpens that allowed little sustained offense.
For the Padres, the win stopped a run of six consecutive losses in one-run games. It also moved San Diego a half-game ahead of Arizona for a National League wild-card position, according to MLB's postgame account. That standing can change daily in September, but the immediate value was concrete: a close game that had tilted away from San Diego ended before another one-run loss could enter the ledger.
The series continues Saturday at Petco Park. Friday's result will be remembered for the ball Campusano sent over the wall, yet the three runners he stopped were part of the same margin. In a game decided by one run after 10 innings, every removed base preceded the final two that counted.