This story was originally published by Dead Spin
On their own, Kyle Higashioka and Luis Campusano are two ordinary major league players.
But if you mix the stats of the two catchers together, you have the top home run hitter for the playoff-contending San Diego Padres. The Padres will try to take a second straight win from the visiting New York Mets Saturday night in the third of the teams’ four-game series.
Higashioka knocked in three runs during Friday night’s 7-0 win, cracking his career-high 15th homer of the year with a man aboard in the bottom of the second. Combined, the duo has belted 23 homers and knocked in 81 runs, even though neither is hitting higher than .233.
The 81 RBIs also would lead the team. Jurickson Profar tops the Padres with 77.
“It’s been great; they’ve made the lineup longer,” San Diego manager Mike Shildt said after Friday night’s game. “Higgy has been fantastic; he had the big swing tonight early and then adds on another run later. Campy has also given us production and has helped us with (Dylan) Cease and (Martin) Perez, so they’re a really good combination.”
While Higashioka has gotten most of the starting assignments lately, Campusano earned his claim to fame on July 25 in Washington when he caught Cease’s no-hitter, the second in franchise history.
Getting that kind of unnoticed production near the bottom of the lineup helps explain why the Padres are 23-8 since the All-Star break and just a half-game behind Arizona for the first wild-card spot in the National League.
They’ll try to keep their playoff push going on Saturday night behind right-hander Michael King (11-6, 3.18 ERA). He’s won his past two starts, including a 5-3 decision Monday night against Minnesota after permitting two runs on four hits and three walks with six strikeouts in six innings.
In five career outings, four of them out of the bullpen, against New York, King has no record but a 2.25 earned run average and 15 strikeouts in 12 innings.
Meanwhile, the Mets will turn to left-hander David Peterson (7-1, 3.00) for another key start after getting just 2 1/3 ineffective innings Friday night from Paul Blackburn before he left after taking a liner off his pitching hand.
Peterson turned in a quality start Monday night during his team’s 4-3 win over Baltimore, striking out eight and giving up just two earned runs in seven innings. He’s lost both career starts against San Diego, allowing six runs in 12 innings.
New York will hope for length from Peterson after its relievers had to cover 9 2/3 innings in the series’ first two games. Manager Carlos Mendoza asked Ryne Stanek, Danny Young and Adam Ottavino for multiple-inning performances, which could affect their availability for Saturday night.
The Mets also demoted Huascar Brazoban to Triple-A Syracuse after he gave up two runs in the ninth inning Thursday night, upping his earned run average to 6.30 in nine games since being acquired from Miami at the trade deadline.
“He’s probably taking it too hard on himself, especially after a bad outing,” Mendoza said. “I think it’s more of a reset for him because stuff-wise, he is really good.”
New York activated Dedniel Nunez from the injured list to replace Brazoban.
–Field Level Media
