NL DIVISION SERIES: PADRES VS BREWERS

October 4, 2026

Craig Stammen

American Family Field

San Diego Padres

Postgame 2 Press Conference

Brewers - 4, Padres - 3

Q. Can you just assess where you guys are at right now?

CRAIG STAMMEN: Down 2-0 heading home.

Q. What's the challenge?

CRAIG STAMMEN: It's a big challenge. They're a great team. You saw how hard they battle us here in Milwaukee. But we like where we are when we play at home. We can defend our home field and then hopefully have a chance to a return trip back to Milwaukee will be real nice this fall.

Q. Can you talk about the decision to go with Mason for six? Was Jason unavailable? And then what did you see from Mason?

CRAIG STAMMEN: I think top of the lineup in the eighth probably made that decision for Mason. I think going into the game we were thinking of Mason for six outs anyway, especially how quick the eighth inning went for him. He was just battling the strike zone there at the end.

Q. The game overall, some beautiful plays early. There were also, by both sides, some runs were given. What was your assessment of how this one transpired?

CRAIG STAMMEN: You're right, I think both teams put pressure on the other team when they're on offense and you're on defense. And so it forces you to make quick plays and transfers in the infield and holding runners and stealing bases and things like that.

So both teams are built with good defenses and also with some speed on the offensive side. It forces mistakes but it also can show some really, really good plays.

They made some great plays. We made some great plays. A couple they probably want back, a couple we want back.

But in the end it was a tightly contested game. They had to walk us off to beat us. So a good game overall. Hopefully we keep playing that kind of baseball and then we come out on the other end of it.

Q. How did you feel about the way King performed? And what happened the next time through the lineup in the fifth inning?

CRAIG STAMMEN: I thought he pitched well. He's carrying a no-hitter there for a while. And then three straight hits in the fifth inning kind of showed that they were their approach was starting to get to him a little bit.

Felt like giving him a chance to get out in the sixth, see what that was that looked like, especially facing top of the lineup with the righty. Then you had the lefties after that.

Him hitting that batter, he doesn't hit guys very often, especially with breaking balls. Felt like that was an appropriate time to get him out. And the relievers did a really good job today.

Q. When you mentioned that both teams had opportunities here, when you look back at your top of the seventh, had runners on bases, what stands out to you about that inning for you guys offensively?

CRAIG STAMMEN: Unable to quite punch through and put the game away a little bit there. I think both games we had chances. We came through a couple times today. Ty France had some big hits.

But overall, it's going to be tough against their pitching staff to punch through in those spots. They're matching up really well. With two outs, not a given that we're gonna get a hit. But we had a couple tonight. A couple more would have helped.

Q. You mentioned Ty France. After what happened last night, he could have gone into today, like, bummed out and everything. But the way that he responded, what did you think about that offensively?

CRAIG STAMMEN: Ty's a very even-keeled type of person. In fact, he's probably the one joking around the dugout the most. That's his personality. That's how he stays focused.

We knew last night, it's happened to us before. That was the blessing of it is that, we've been beat by a roof ball. For us to bounce back, it was, like, no big deal. We've done this before.

So once the first pitch is thrown, yesterday's game is gone and it's about this game. The same thing, when we show up tomorrow for the workout and when we start, throw pitch one of Game 3, this game will be over.

Q. With Jackson hitting a home run yesterday and doing what he did tonight through the ninth inning, does that make you think about changing the approach of how you guys approach him at the plate and the game plan for Game 3 and beyond?

CRAIG STAMMEN: Yeah, we constantly look at where our pitchers are throwing pitches and what pitches we want to throw them. He's put a couple good swings on us. He's batting lead-off for a reason. He's their best hitter. And sometimes those guys come through and he's come through for the Brewers so far.