NL DIVISION SERIES: PADRES VS BREWERS

October 4, 2026

Craig Stammen

American Family Field

San Diego Padres

Pregame 2 Press Conference

Q. Going Salas at DH. Can you kind of go into what's impressed you about him and why he got that spot today?

CRAIG STAMMEN: Yeah, he's been impressive since he got here. Got off to a little bit of a rough start there, not getting a hit for a while. But stuck with it. And then once he broke through, he's been a pretty hot hitter for us. Couple of great at-bats last night from him.

I feel like he's earned the right to have the opportunity to continue hitting.

Q. Is Gavin generally in that discussion for that DH spot, or is he just viewed as a pinch-hit option?

CRAIG STAMMEN: Oh, he's definitely an option to DH. We could see him in that spot as the series goes. I think we want to see how Ethan handles that spot. We've done that a little bit this year in the regular season where he was the DH.

But just like how he's swinging the bat right now. And feel like wanting his left-handed bat in the lineup is a good thing.

Q. You were on a Padres team in 2022 that lost the first game of the division series and then took three straight from the Dodgers. What's the importance level of winning Game 2 here to get a split on the road going back home?

CRAIG STAMMEN: Every's game's important in the playoffs. You want to win every game. Clearly, if we're down 2-0 that's not as good of a spot as if it was 1-1.

So a big game today. Was a big game yesterday; we came out on the short end of the stick. But another chance to take on the Brewers and try to win a playoff game.

Q. How did Freddy come out of that shot in yesterday's game?

CRAIG STAMMEN: Good as far as I know.

Q. And is there an update on Walker?

CRAIG STAMMEN: Still in the hospital with his wife. And he'll update us when things happen.

Q. Do you have a Game 3 starter yet?

CRAIG STAMMEN: Nick Pivetta will be starting Game 3.

Q. What's impressed you the most from what you've seen from Pivetta in the Wild Card series and through the month of September to give you confidence for Game 3?

CRAIG STAMMEN: Yeah, I think our confidence in Nick goes back to last year. He had this great season that he had last year. And then him pitching Game 1 in the Wild Card series last year, pitched very well.

Pitched very well here once he came back from injury in September. And then had a solid start against the Cubs in the Wild Card. He's been able to handle the moment. And we like his stuff. He's been a good pitcher for a lot of his career and especially here with the Padres.

Q. With Salas being so young, how do you think his young complements the veteran experience that you have on this team?

CRAIG STAMMEN: Yeah, we have a good mix of veteran presence and some youthful energy on our team. Ethan fits in with Jackson Merrill and Tatis. And then you've got the elder statesman in Manny and Xander. Cronenworth kind of in the middle there with Sheets and those guys.

We've got a good mix. We've got experience. And then we've got a little bit of "never been here, never done that, so I'm not worried about it" kind of feeling.

But Ethan's done a great job so far being here. He's fit in with the ballclub. The older guys have brought him along and allowed him to fit in and took good care of him. So I like the mix we've got going on.

Q. I think you have not lost back-to-back games since that Pittsburgh series, I think, like, the first week in September or something like that. What is it about the team that's been able to allow you to bounce back and not let one loss turn into two?

CRAIG STAMMEN: Yeah, our team definitely has been resilient all year. We bounced back a lot. We haven't quit. It's been a theme of our team early on. It was how we were winning some of the games. It looked like we were down and out a lot. Then we came back found a way to sneak a few out.

And it's turned into guys and their individual seasons, of having struggles early and fighting through it, putting work in and then coming out really good here in the second half.

And then it's turned into a team mantra also of, we're never out of it, we're never down, we're always thinking about the next opportunity, being able to make the next play, being able to play the next game as best we can and move on from the past.

Q. If you could just speak a little bit to kind of the way you guys have asked a little bit more workload-wise from Bradgley or a different kind of workload, maybe, in the past few weeks and how he's handled that.

CRAIG STAMMEN: Yeah, he's been handling it really well. He's definitely been pitching a little bit more two-hitting opportunities, or one-plus opportunities. And he's just passing with flying colors.

And in the playoffs, you just need to stretch guys just a little bit farther, especially when you're taking starters out of the game as early as we have been.

There's enough off days in the postseason that make that a viable strategy. However, you can't just keep doing that all the time. And we're going to have to rely on our entire bullpen, which we do feel really good about.

Q. It started late in the regular season. Was the idea there kind of preparation for this in the playoffs?

CRAIG STAMMEN: It was more so the idea we need to get into the playoffs. We need home-field advantage. We want our best pitchers pitching, and Bradgley is one of our best.