The Padres made a flurry of moves on Sunday morning as rosters expanded from 26 to 28 for September ahead of their 10:40 a.m. start in Tampa Bay.
Most notably, catcher Elias Diaz’s contract was selected from Triple-A El Paso, left-hander Wandy Peralta (groin) was activated from the injured list and left-hander Tom Cosgrove was called up from El Paso.
To make room on the active and 40-man rosters, right-hander Randy Vásquez was optioned to El Paso and El Paso reliever Lake Bachar was designated for assignment.
The Padres also transferred Rule-5 reliever Stephen Kolek to the 60-day injured list, selected the contract of outfielder Brandon Lockridge and optioned him to El Paso and shortstop Nick Ahmed to a minor league deal.
Peralta struck out three over 3⅓ scoreless innings on his rehab assignment, which included two appearances with low Single-A Lake Elsinore and one at Double-A San Antonio. He had a 4.50 ERA in 34 innings before sustaining a groin injury, but Peralta had a 0.00 ERA in May before allowing a 10.00 ERA over his last nine innings.
Cosgrove has an 11.66 ERA in 14⅔ innings in the majors this season and a 5.27 ERA in 27⅓ innings at Triple-A El Paso, but he’s struck out 17 over his last 13 innings (1.38 ERA) in the minors.
Vásquez allowed nine runs in 4 ⅓ innings in Saturday’s start, pushing his ERA to 5.18. He could be replaced in the rotation by Yu Darvish as soon as this week.
Bachar was added to the 40-man roster after the trade deadline, has a 3.89 ERA in 71 ⅔ innings at Triple-A El Paso and last Sunday was recalled and optioned back to El Paso without making his MLB debut.
Kolek has a 5.21 ERA in this first year in the majors but has not pitched since July 30.
Lockridge is hitting .290/.305/.387 with two homers and 10 steals in 25 games since he was acquired from the Yankees for reliever Enyel De Los Santos.
Ahmed, 34, had a .232/.271/.300 in 69 games this year with the Giants and Dodgers. He was released by the Giants on July 10, signed with the Dodgers two weeks later and released month.
Ahmed spent the first 10 years of his career with the Diamondbacks, hitting .234/.288/.376 and won Gold Gloves in 2018 and 2019.
Diaz was 3-for-12 with a homer in four games with Triple-A El Paso.
An All-Star Game MVP a year ago, Diaz was hitting .270/.315/.378 with five homers and 36 RBIs in 84 games when the Rockies released him from an injury-riddled season.
The 33-year-old is expected to fortify a position that has seen the incumbents move in opposite directions since the first month of the season.
Kyle Higashioka has paired a career-high 16 homers with a .230/.276/.520 batting line in seizing the lion’s share of starts. Meanwhile, Luis Campusano has eight homers and a .653 OPS and has a .539 OPS in August.
Campusano, however, will catch Dylan Cease on Sunday as he’s done for almost the entirety of the 2024 season. Cease has a 3.30 ERA in 24 starts with Campusano, including his no-hitter, and a 5.40 ERA in four starts with Higashioka.
Rubber match with the Rays. pic.twitter.com/gQqjIkmblu
— San Diego Padres (@Padres) September 1, 2024
Campusano will hit eighth on Sunday, between right fielder David Peralta and Mason McCoy, who has become the de facto starter at shortstop during Ha-Seong Kim’s absence.
Luis Arraez is atop the lineup as the DH and Jake Cronenworth is at first base.
The Padres are seeking the series win. Yesterday’s loss did not cost the Padres in the wild-card standings, as the Diamondbacks have lost their first two games to the visiting Dodgers.
Here is how the Rays (67-68, 4th in AL East) will line up for the series finale:
Today’s #Rays lineup pic.twitter.com/hGtznpAD9n
— Jeff Sanders (@sdutSanders) September 1, 2024
Sunday’s pitching matchup
Padres RHP Dylan Cease (12-10, 3.57 ERA)
He’s been off since his rain-shortened start in Pittsburgh, walking 12 batters while allowing a 4.64 ERA over four starts (21⅓ IP). Before that, Cease had allowed a 1.04 ERA over five starts (34 ⅔ IP). Cease has a 5.40 ERA over five career starts against the Rays, including allowing nine earned runs in eight innings last year.
Here is how Cease has fared against current Rays:
Rays RHP Ryan Pepiot (7-6, 3.61 ERA)
The former Dodgers prospect has allowed two or fewer earned runs in his last eight starts (2.16 ERA). He’s allowing a .581 OPS against righties and a .701 OPS against lefties. Pepiot has a 4.50 ERA over eight career innings against the Padres, including four runs in six innings in a loss last year.
Here is Pepiot’s history with current Padres:
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