Because there’s so much turnover in baseball, Michael King is more familiar with the coaches and supporting staff in the visiting clubhouse at Petco Park than most of the Yankees who are in town this weekend. Gerrit Cole, whom he’ll face on Sunday (1:10 p.m. on Padres.TV), was a mentor as King transitioned from the bullpen and Aaron Judge was one of his good friends while coming of age in New York.
Judge, however, is on the Yankees’ injured list with a stress facture in a rib and not expected to be activated until after the weekend, which King made sure to point out while the two embraced on the field on Friday.
“He said he wants to be activated on Tuesday when they go back home,” King said, “and I was like, ‘Weird. One game after I’m pitching. You don’t want to face me.’ Just totally joking around with him, because, yeah, that would definitely throw a wrench in my scouting report, and I’d have to kind of cram (Sunday) if he does get activated.’”
Indeed.
Judge homered off King when they matched up for three at-bats last year in New York.
The three-time AL MVP has been sidelined since the start of June. He was hitting .248/.375/.533 with 17 homers in 59 games before the injury.
“Judge and I have been really close,’ King said. “Our wives are really close, so I definitely miss him in the game right now.”
As far as Cole, he won an AL Cy Young Award in King’s last year in New York and he was an easy person for King to sidle up to as he moved into the rotation, even if the heavy four-seam pitcher wasn’t a direct comp to King’s sinker-changeup arsenal.
“He definitely helped me out a ton,” King said. “One of the best baseball minds I’ve seen. Obviously, I moved from a reliever to a starter, and he was the ace of the team, so he definitely had an interest in me, I guess, and I was really thankful that he thought of me to help me out. He didn’t have to. I was barely the fifth starter on that team, but he definitely mentored me and helped me learn how to scout, learn how to get through a lineup multiple times, even just certain pitches and sequences, reading swings. He was huge that way. He introduced me to some other former teammates of his that had similar arsenals to me because we were totally different. He was the big four-seam, curveball guy and I was sinker, changeup.
“But he’s been an awesome mentor for me for my career.”
Ethan Salas #8 of the San Diego Padres looks on in the dugout at Petco Park on Friday, Sept. 4, 2026 in San Diego, California. (Meg McLaughlin / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Salas starts at DH
Luis Campusano has caught 17 of King’s starts to the tune of a 2.63 ERA. The other catcher that has history with King this year is not on the roster (King has a 3.88 ERA in 11 starts with Rodolfo Durán), so Campusano will catch King.
With a right-hander on the mound, that prompted Padres manager Craig Stammen to give rookie Ethan Salas the start at DH, just his second time in the starting lineup since last week’s call-up.
The left-handed-hitting Salas, 20, is 0-for-5 with three strikeouts in his two appearances in games so far. He struck out as a pinch-hitter on Saturday when Yankees manager Aaron Boone fetched a left-hander to face Salas in the sixth inning.
Boone later brought in a lefty to face Salas in the ninth and the 20-year-old was replaced by pinch-hitter Austin Hays.
Salas will hit ninth in a lineup that includes Dustin Harris (.721 OPS) starting in left field and batting seventh and shortstop Xander Bogaerts (.642 OPS) batting eighth a day after collecting one of the team’s three hits out of the two-hole.
Closing out the series. pic.twitter.com/ymwja2EwX6
— San Diego Padres (@Padres) September 6, 2026
The Padres (74-68) begin Sunday a half-game behind the Diamondbacks in the race for the NL’s last wild-card spot.
Here is how the Yankees (81-61) will line up for the rubber match:
Closing out the Road Trip. #RepBX pic.twitter.com/npTzZpacUe
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) September 6, 2026
Sunday’s pitching matchup
Yankees RHP Gerrit Cole (8-7, 3.29 ERA)
He’s thrown 104 innings so far in this first year back from the elbow surgery that cost him the 2025 season. He’s topped out at seven innings and 103 pitches and has a 2.62 ERA in nine starts since the All-Star break. He posted a 4.04 ERA in his first nine starts. Cole has a 2.36 ERA in eight career starts against the Padres, the last in 2023 (6 IP, 5 ER).
Here is how Cole has fared against current Padres:
Padres RHP Michael King (9-9, 3.11 ERA)
The former Yankee has strung together five straight quality starts (1.71 ERA), striking out 27 against nine walks over 31⅔ innings. He has faced the Yankees once since the Juan Soto trade brought him to San Diego, spinning a quality start (6 IP, 2 ER) in a no-decision in the Bronx last year.
Here is how King has fared against current Yankees:
