Three days after exiting after crashing into the center field wall, Jackson Merrill is back in the lineup for Saturday’s 6:40 p.m. start on Padres.TV.

Chewie, we’re home. pic.twitter.com/q4SPqxygPl

— San Diego Padres (@Padres) May 23, 2026

Imaging did not reveal any structural concerns. The Padres pulled Merrill after his first at-bat on Wednesday and sat him on Friday after Thursday’s off-day.

“He’s back and ready to go,” Padres manager Craig Stammen said. “He was fighting to play yesterday, and fighting to stay in the game on Wednesday, so good thing with the off-day, you know, yesterday for him to kind of recoup and get ready and be ready for today.”

The slumping Merrill will return to the sixth spot in the order on Saturday, where he’d been for four straight games until Wednesday’s exit.

Xander Bogaerts is also slumping — .129/.176/.129 over his last nine games — and will sit for the first time since May 6 as Sung-Mun Song gets his second start at shortstop.

Song, who will bat ninth, is 2-for-15 over 12 games since collecting two hits in his first start in the majors in San Francisco on May 5.

“Trying to rest him a little bit,” Stammen said of the day off for Bogaerts. “He’s been going at it pretty hard ever since (Jake Cronenworth) has been down. He’s had to play a lot of shortstop, doesn’t really have that backup shortstop that we had, and Song’s going fill in today.”

Fernando Tatis Jr. (595 OPS) will bat leadoff and play second base, which again puts Nick Castellanos (.592 OPS) in right field. Ty France (.824 OPS) will start at first base so Gavin Sheets (.857 OPS) will start in left field as Ramón Laureano, a day after a hitting a home run, is out of the lineup.

Here is how the Athletics will line up for Game 2:

tonight’s starters. pic.twitter.com/DSXM25hMuD

— Athletics (@Athletics) May 23, 2026

 

Saturday’s pitching matchup

Athletics RHP J.T. Ginn (2-2, 2.98 ERA)

The third-year starter went eight innings in his last start but lost both the no-hitter and the game via a walk-off homer. He has a 44-to-17 strikeout-to-walk ratio through 51⅓ innings and has a 2.64 ERA in eight starts. This is Ginn’s first appearance against the Padres.

Only two Padres have history with Ginn:

1B Gavin Sheets (2-for-2, HR)
1B Ty France (1-for-2)

Padres RHP Lucas Giolito (1-0, 5.40 ERA)

He sat 90.4 mph while allowing three runs in five innings on Sunday in his Padres debut in Seattle. Giolito struck out three and walked three. Giolito has a 5.01 ERA in four career starts against the Athletics and a 7.71 ERA in one career start at Petco Park (2025).

Here is how Giolito has fared against current Athletics: