Padres Press Clips Wednesday, June 27, 2018

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Padres notes: Margot's crucial out; Ross better than before; Texas ties SD Union Tribune Acee 2

Padres come back in rare style to beat Rangers SD Union Tribune Acee 5

Josh Naylor homers in Texas League All-Star Game SD Union Tribune Sanders 7

Padres notes: will resume throwing with confidence SD Union Tribune Acee 9

Padres bullpen has shouldered load, now beginning to slump SD Union Tribune Acee 11

Shane Peterson helps power El Paso's sixth straight win SD Union Tribune Sanders 14

Padres rally in 8th after Ross' strong outing MLB.com Dotson 16

Green easing Hedges back into Padres' lineup MLB.com Dotson 18

Bullpen struggles under recent heavy workload Padres.com Center 20

Q&A: Padres pitching prospect Cal Quantrill talks about his recovery, The Athletic Lin 22 his mindset and aiming for the next level

Padres rally past Rangers 3-2 as Choo extends on-base streak Associated Press AP 24

This Day in Padres History — June 27 FriarWire Center 26

Andy’s Address, 6/26 FriarWire Center 27

#PadresOnDeck: RHP Chris Paddack, LHP Nick Margevicius Lead FriarWire Center 29 Chain of Strong Starts

Richard set to start as Padres eye a win in series finale FOX Sports STATS 33

Exiled by the Cubs, Sammy Sosa Is Enjoying the Life He Wants SI.com Buckland/Reiter 35 You to See

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Padres notes: Margot's crucial out; Ross better than before; Texas ties Kevin Acee

He has 10 extra-base hits and a .407 on-base percentage this month.

He scored his team’s only two runs Sunday.

The Padres had only scored 15 runs in the previous four games, and he’d driven in six of those.

Through all that, no one gushed about Manuel Margot as much as they did after his hitless night on Tuesday.

“The at-bat of the game,” manager Andy Green said.

Down 2-0 in the eighth inning – with the Padres having won just one of the 40 games in which they trailed that late in a game this season – Travis Jankowski drew a lead-off walk against Rangers Jake Diekman.

Margot followed with a pop fly in foul territory caught by Rangers first baseman .

On the 13th pitch Margot saw and his eighth foul ball of the at-bat.

Margot fell behind by watching two called strikes from Diekman before taking two balls and then fouling off three straight and a . The count went full on a ball inside before Margot fouled off three more pitches out of play and then sent the foul into the air that Profar caught in front of the Rangers dugout.

“One thing people forget about is the at-bat by Manny,” is the first thing Wil Myers said following the Padres’ 3-2 victory over the Rangers. “That really set up that inning. … Any time you can wear down a pitcher, it really helps the rest of the guys. It was lot easier for Hos and I to have the at-bats we did after that.”

It was the longest plate appearance of Margot’s career and the most pitches seen by a Padres player since Carlos Asuaje struck out at the end of a 13-pitch at-bat last Aug. 22.

Four pitches later, the game was tied.

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Eric Hosmer followed with a single on a 1-0 pitch. Myers doubled on the first pitch he saw, bringing home Jankowski. Christian Villanueva sent a first-pitch slider to left field for a sacrifice fly to score Hosmer.

Hunter Renfroe got ahead 3-0, took two strikes, fouled off the 27th pitch of the inning straight back and hit the 28th pitch down the left field line for a double that scored Myers.

Rangers manager came out and got Diekman.

Margot, who did walk in the first inning to extend his on-base streak to seven games, finished 0- for-3. In his past 27 games, he has as many multi-hit games (eight) as hitless games.

On May 23, he was batting .199/.241/.294 and had spent just six days this season with a batting average above .200. He is now at .246/.309/.384.

“It’s been fun to watch his at-bats the last (month),” Hosmer said. “He’s in a good place right now. It’s a lot of fun to watch him hit.”

Even when he doesn’t get a hit.

Even better Before Tuesday’s game, Green recalled what he saw when he’d watch Tyson Ross pitch for the Rangers last season and how far the right-hander has come in a year.

Ross made 10 starts for the Rangers last season, allowing 36 earned runs and an average of 1.76 walks and hits per inning over 46 total innings.

“He was a shell of his former self at that time,” Green said. “And now he’s better than his former self.”

That was a pretty big statement, considering Ross was among the major leagues’ best over a three-year stretch from 2013-15 before thoracic outlet syndrome and the ensuing surgery and recovery cost him the 2016 season and most of ’17.

And it turns out, Green was right.

Ross allowed two runs in six innings Tuesday night, his 10th quality start of the season. He did not get the decision and sits at 5-5 with a 3.32 ERA and 1.19 WHIP. Opponents are batting .222 against him.

Through 16 starts in 2014, his All-Star season, Ross was 6-7 with a 3.22 ERA, 1.30 WHIP and .240 batting average against. He had made nine quality starts.

Follow the connections Ross was with the Rangers for just more than three months during the season after signing with them a few weeks before spring training. He still made a big impression, and the Rangers wish he was still in Texas.

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A day after Rangers pitching Doug Brocail gushed about Ross, Rangers manager Jeff Banister did the same thing.

“When we signed him, we had visions beyond last year,” Banister said prior to Tuesday’s game. “It’s no surprise that he’s throwing the ball the way he is. I saw him when he was really, really good before the surgery. It’s more of a testament to how he’s worked to get himself back. I love seeing players that have success, whether they have been with us and have gone on. That’s part of it. You pull for the human being more than you pull for the jersey.”

The Padres released Ross on Sept. 12 and promoted outfielder , who was the key piece in their trade of to the Dodgers.

Calhoun remained in Triple-A on Tuesday while the Rangers called up Ryan Rua to replace Ronald Guzman.

Guzman was placed on the seven-day concussion DL after he took a knee to the head from Padres third baseman Christian Villanueva while diving back to the bag on Monday night. Villanueva, incidentally, was playing in his first game against the team that originally signed him out of Mexico in 2008.

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Padres come back in rare style to beat Rangers Kevin Acee

It felt like this type of inning should have happened sooner.

There just hadn’t been many chances.

There had, in fact, not been a single game in which the events that transpired Tuesday night at Globe Life Park could have occurred.

Wil Myers came to bat with on base.

The moment felt big.

It ended up being big.

Myers doubled to start the scoring in a three-run eighth inning that led to a 3-2 victory over the .

“I think everyone, all Padres fans, everybody in the front office envisioned that,” Myers said. “It’s pretty cool when it happens in real time.”

In the first game in which Myers hit behind Hosmer and just the 13th game they have started together with the Padres, the team’s two biggest names and two highest-paid players figured prominently in a victory.

Perhaps had Myers not missed all but 16 of the season’s 82 games, this wouldn’t have been just the second time in 41 tries the Padres won when trailing after seven innings.

“That’s what good teams do,” Hosmer said. “They find ways to win, especially when we’re not clicking on all cylinders offensively. … We needed it a lot. It seemed like it had been a while since we put up some runs. It was big to come from behind and kind of steal this one. It seemed like they had the momentum all game.”

The Padres were on the verge of wasting another fine outing by Tyson Ross, their most consistent starter, who they consistently fail to support with runs.

Ross allowed two runs – on solo homers, by Rougned Odor in the second and Robinson Chirinos in the fourth – before leaving after the sixth inning.

It was his 10th quality start and the 15th time in his 16 starts he went at least five innings. It was the third straight game in which the Padres did not score while he was in the game.

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They have scored just 33 runs while he has been in games all season, the second-fewest runs of support for any pitcher who has thrown at least 95 innings this season.

But for the 11th time, the Padres won a game Ross started because he kept them in it.

Laboring on a night in which the heat index still hovered around 100 degrees when he left the game having thrown his 100th pitch around 9 p.m., Ross was able to leave the bases loaded in the sixth inning by striking out Delino DeShields.

“That was big for us to give us a chance,” Green said. “It was a hard-fought win, which is fun for us to come back and get.”

After Matt Strahm (2-2) pitched a scoreless seventh, Travis Jankowski led off the eighth with a walk and was followed to the plate by Manuel Margot, who popped out to first base but took 13 pitches to do so.

“The at-bat of the game,” Green said. “How many pitches he fouled off, how hard he made (Rangers pitcher Jake) Diekman work, I think that opened up opportunities for everyone else.”

Hosmer followed with a single to center field.

After Myers’ double down the line in left field drove in Jankowski and moved Hosmer to third base, pinch-hitter Christian Villanueva smacked the first pitch he saw to left field for a sacrifice fly that brought Hosmer home.

Hunter Renfroe followed with a double that scored Myers.

Kirby Yates struck out all three batters he faced in the eighth inning, and Brad Hand finally got his career-high and -leading 22nd save after blowing his last two opportunities.

It was the Padres’ second win on this road trip and just their second win in 10 games.

This was just Myers’ fifth game back from his second stay on the disabled list. Where Green had previously batted him directly in front of Hosmer, the perpetual lineup mixer had Hosmer third and Myers fourth on Tuesday.

Myers went 2-for-4. Hosmer’s single was his first in four at-bats Tuesday and his first in 12 at- bats since a two-run single in the ninth Friday against the Giants.

“Hopefully this leads to good things,” Hosmer said.

The Padres at least now know what it might look like.

“That was, uh, fun,” Green said. “We kind of expected that to be going on all year. Now they’re finally in the lineup together and clicking.”

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Josh Naylor homers in Texas League All-Star Game Jeff Sanders Maybe Josh Naylor is finding his power stroke again.

Relatively quiet in that department since April, the Padres’ 21-year-old converted outfielder homered for the South Division on Tuesday in the Texas League All-Star Game, a 3-2 win for the South via a rare derby tiebreaker after nine innings.

Naylor’s home run tied the game at 1-1 in the bottom of the third inning. It was the only hit in two at bats for Naylor, who started in left field a half year into adding the position to his resume.

"I was just sitting on a high because that's what I knew he was trying to do," Naylor told MILB.com. "I took a few pitches and I made him throw a fastball. I hit it and it went over. I just thank God for that."

After finishing 2017 with a .666 OPS in 42 games with Double-A San Antonio, Naylor is hitting .312/.390/.468 with 10 homers and a Texas League-best 54 RBIs.

He’d hit seven of his home runs in April (1.123 OPS), two in May (.719 OPS) and one in 22 games this month (.747 OPS).

Also in the Texas League All-Star Game, starting catcher went 1-for-1 with a walk and starting designated hitter Ty France went 1-fo-3.

Michael Gettys went 0-for-1 off the bench

Shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. did not play as the Padres opted to rest their top prospect.

On the mound, left-hander Jerry Keel allowed a run on two hits in the third inning and right- hander Rowan Wick allowed a single in a scoreless frame.

Left-hander Logan Allen, who returned from the DL on Sunday, did not pitch in the game.

TRIPLE-A EL PASO (41-37)

• Chihuahuas 9, Fresno 5: RF Franmil Reyes (.338) drove in three runs on two doubles, LF Shane Peterson (.286) went 3-for-4 with a double, his seventh homer and two RBIs and CF Forrestt Allday (.241), 3B Carlos Asuaje (.345) and 1B Brett Nicholas (.304) each had two hits. 2B Luis Urias (.265) went 1-for-3 with a double, an RBI, two walks and a run scored. RHP Phil Maton (0.00) struck out a batter in a scoreless ninth. El Paso won its seventh game in a row.

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HIGH SINGLE-A LAKE ELSINORE (2-4, 36-40)

• Rancho Cucamonga 6, Storm 0: RHP Angel Acevedo (0-1, 5.060 allowed three runs in 5 1/3 innings and RHP Steven Wilson allowed three runs in 2 1/3 innings in his California League debut. CF Edward Olivares (.262) went 2-for-4 while DH Allen Cordoba (.111) went 1-for-3. Cordoba has 17 against zero walks in 36 at-bats since returning from his concussion.

LOW SINGLE-A FORT WAYNE (4-2, 36-39)

• TinCaps 3, Bowling Green 2: LHP Aaron Leasher (4-3, 2.66) struck out six and allowed one run – on a solo homer – on six hits and three walks in six innings. LHP Travis Radke (.227) allowed a run in the ninth before converting his 10th save. DH Justin Lopez (.234) drove in two runs on his fifth homer and LF Robbie Podorsky (.327), 2B Esteury Ruiz (.255) and SS Gabriel Arias (.222) each had two hits.

SHORT-SEASON TRI-CITY (6-6)

• Vancouver 7, Dust Devil 1: RHP Nick Kuzia (0-1, 7.11) allowed five runs over 2 1/3 innings in the start, while RHP Carter Capps (1.50) struck out three over two scoreless innings. RHP Andres Munoz (0.00) struck out one and walked one over 1 1/3 scoreless innings. DH Luis Asuncion (.351) went 2-for-3 with a double, a walk and a run scored.

ROOKIE AZL PADRES 1 ( 4-3)

• Brewers 3, Padres 0: RHP Frank Lopez (0-1, 3.68) struck out six and allowed two runs on four hits and a walk in four innings in the start. RF Agustin Ruiz (.259) and LF Tyler Benson (.167) both went 1-for-3 with a double and SS Xavier Edwards(.423) went 1-for-4 with his sixth steal. Edwards also committed his first two errors of the season.

ROOKIE AZL PADRES 2 (4-3)

• Padres 5, Mariners 2: LHP Joey Cantillo (0.00) struck out six and allowed two unearned runs on two hits and a walk in 4 1/3 innings. RHP Jefferson Garcia (7.50) struck out six over four shutout innings for his first save. 1B Jason Pineda(.407) went 1- for-4 with an RBI double and SS Tucupita Marcano (.364) went 1-for-2 with an RBI, a walk and a run scored.

ROOKIE DSL PADRES (13-8)

• Padres 9, White Sox 0: RHP Eudi Asencio (2-1, 5.63) struck out three and allowed two hits and no walks over six shutout innings. LF Luis Paez (.243) went 3-for-5 with a double, two RBIs and two runs scored and 3B Vladimir Echavarria (.178) went 1-for-1 with an RBI, four walks and three runs scored.

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Padres notes: Jordan Lyles will resume throwing with confidence Kevin Acee

Baseball teams don’t automatically turn to a MRI when a pitcher has an elbow issue because it can sometimes cause more trouble than it solves.

Physical tests based on base-line strength, flexibility and pain tolerance are generally fairly accurate. And the fact is, imaging is going to show some sort of damage in the elbow and shoulders of a vast majority of major league players, especially pitchers.

Sometimes, confirmation of that damage can be counterproductive.

But in the case of Padres pitcher Jordan Lyles, the MRI he had Monday served an important purpose.

Confidence.

“Knowing the MRI said there is no structural damage I can put that on the back burner a little better,” Lyles said. “… It was really scary. This is my well-being. This is how I make a living. That was my first scare in my professional career. There’s something to be said for that. If something pops up, 10 years without any arm trouble or anything surfacing, I feel like I had the right to step back and say, ‘Hold on a second.’ ”

He is not only pleased the initial inflammation diagnosis was confirmed but that the MRI allayed any anxiety he might feel when he begins throwing again, likely Friday at Petco Park.

Lyles felt a “nag” in his elbow while warming up for his start Saturday, and the Padres pulled him from the game as the top of the first inning was underway. Matt Strahm started in Lyles’ place, and the Padres put him the disabled list the following day with elbow inflammation.

“Our doctors believe that was the smartest decision,” said Lyles, who flew to Texas to meet the team on Monday night. “I’m not sure if something would have led to something more serious if I’d taken the mound. But looking back on it, I would have done the same thing.”

This MRI was particularly informative, too, because Lyles had just undergone one in December when he re-signed with the Padres.

“We had something very close to compare it to time-wise,” Lyles said. “If I didn’t have the MRI this offseason we wouldn’t have anything to base it off. It was real simple.”

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If Lyles does throw Friday and feels good, he could throw a bullpen by Sunday and perhaps start as soon as he is eligible to come off the DL on July 4.

“Assuming he feels good, we’ll progress him relatively rapidly,” manager Andy Green said. “It’s totally based on his symptoms and how he feels. If he feels really good there’s no reason we’ll slow him down.”

The Padres are off Thursday and Monday, which could conceivably allow them to put off calling up a pitcher to fill in for Lyles unless he can’t go by July 8.

Extra bases

• Austin Hedges, who played 20 innings in his first two games coming off the disabled list (elbow), was not in the lineup Tuesday. He will play Wednesday before the Padres are off Thursday. Said Green: “He wasn’t going to go four in a row, especially in 100-degree weather coming off the DL.” Hedges had an infield single Monday and is 1-for-7 since his return. • Padres starting pitchers have allowed just 15 hits and five earned runs in 26 1/3 innings in the five games played so far on this trip. The Padres are 1-4. • Padres players watched intently and cheered as the Rangers presented Bartolo Colonwith a special jersey with his name and “244” on the back before Tuesday’s game. The jersey was to commemorate Colon having passed Juan Marichal as the winningest pitcher ever from the Dominican Republic.

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Padres bullpen has shouldered load, now beginning to slump Kevin Acee A blown call by the umpiring crew and his right fielder’s error certainly contributed to a bad night for Craig Stammen.

But the veteran reliever knew he wasn’t sharp Monday.

“I just threw some pretty bad sliders today,” he said after allowing four runs (three earned) in the sixth inning of the Padres’ 6-4 loss to the Rangers. “For whatever reason, it was MIA today a few times. It’s usually my go-to pitch.”

Stammen wasn’t going to say it. But his pitches lacked their usual jumpiness because he’d been asked to throw them too often recently.

He and other relievers spoke a couple weeks ago about the pros and cons of repeated “bullpen” games.

“Over the course of time it shows,” Stammen said then. “When relievers are exposed or used a lot more, they’re less successful than when they’re fresh. I know that’s key for me. … Pitch us two days in a row, three days in a row, we get less effective.You just don’t have as much on your fastball. You’re not as strong. That’s just a fact of pitching.”

All around the clubhouse over the course of a couple days earlier this month, members of the bullpen expressed skepticism they could continue working at the rate they had been.

To be sure, they relished the opportunity, the camaraderie, the sense of accomplishment. They love pitching.

They just knew it wasn’t sustainable.

“It’s fine every once in a while,” Kirby Yates said during the last road trip of the repeated games the pen was asked to carry. “… The workload would be way too hard to maintain.”

The Padres bullpen has held up remarkably well under a heavy workload.

Clayton Richard, Tyson Ross and occasionally Jordan Lyles have contributed a number of quality starts to spell the bullpen at times. The team has carried nine relievers most of this month for added depth. Manager Andy Green has sometimes mindfully held back relievers when he would have liked to use them.

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But the reality is the bullpen has contributed 51 percent of the Padres’ total (more than 4 1/3 innings per game) over the past month.

The cracks are beginning to show, some larger than others.

Like Stammen allowing four of his past seven inherited runners to score when he had allowed four of 15 before that. Like Brad Hand blowing two saves in a row and giving up five runs in his past three innings after blowing two of 21 save chances and allowing seven earned runs in 35 1/3 innings before that. Like Adam Cimber giving up five earned runs and seven hits in his past 2 2/3 innings after a stretch in which he allowed two earned runs and 11 hits in 15 1/3.

Green’s candid assessment of what happened to Stammen — who was tasked with getting two extra outs when the umpires overturned a call and Hunter Renfroe didn’t catch a fly ball — was as much an acknowledgment of the shape the bullpen is in going forward as an indictment of what happened.

“He punched a guy out and then got a fly ball that should have been caught — and then there’s no real damage in that inning,” Green said. “After that, I think the cumulative effect of the pitches he’s thrown over the course of the season — yesterday as well, coming into today — I’m sure he’s feeling it a little bit right now.”

Stammen threw 22 pitches Monday after throwing 14 on Sunday and 10 on Friday. That’s not excessive on its own. But it is the middle of the season, and the 34-year-old has pitched in 34 games.

Stammen, who had stranded two runners by coming in to get the final out of the fifth inning, has not been as sharp over his past 11 appearances, dating to May 29.

That is right around the beginning of the bullpen’s collective decline.

The Padres still have one of the most reliable and resilient groups of relievers in the majors. Also, their use of “bullpen” games was highly effective, exercised judiciously and can’t be considered the only impetus for a downturn.

But using relievers to get through four games on purpose since May 27 certainly didn’t help limit exposure. And using relievers to get through another game in a pinch Saturday when Jordan Lyles was scratched from his start with elbow trouble definitely set the bullpen up for failure in the aftermath.

On May 26, through 53 games, the Padres bullpen had thrown the fourth-most innings (199 1/3) in the majors. The relievers’ collective 3.07 ERA ranked fifth and their .227 batting average against was seventh. They had allowed the fewest home runs per batter faced (one every 56) and the lowest percentage of inherited runners to score (17.2 percent).

In the 28 games since, their 120 innings rank second behind the 140 of Tampa Bay, which has completely revamped its pitching staff to be essentially reliever-heavy in the wake of a rash of injuries to its starting rotation.

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The Padres’ bullpen’s ERA since May 27 is 4.29 (20th) and their batting average against is .246 (19th). They have allowed a homer every 30 batters (18th) and allowed 27.6 percent of inherited runners to score (12th).

Asked Monday night whether the preponderance of work has affected him, Stammen said: “It’s an arbitrary thing, so you don’t really know. It’s fun to be able to pitch in games. It’s a privilege to be out there. So any time they hand me the ball and say, ‘Go pitch in a major league baseball game’ I’m going to take it.”

He was smiling. He meant it. That’s a typical reliever’s mentality.

It also wasn’t a denial.

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Shane Peterson helps power El Paso's sixth straight win Jeff Sanders Shane Peterson hit his six homer, doubled twice and drove in four runs as Triple-A El Paso won its sixth straight game Monday, 7-5, against visiting Fresno.

The four RBIs upped Peterson’s total to 37. The Fallbrook native is hitting .278/.341/.449 in his first year in the organization.

Luis Urias (.264), Allen Craig (.291) and Brett Nicholas (.300) each had two hits.

Right-hander Brett Kennedy (5-0, 3.06) struck out three and allowed five runs – four earned – on five hits and two walks in six innings in the win.

Left-hander Brad Wieck (0.00) struck out three and allowed only a walk over 1 1/3 innings to record his first save since his promotion from Double-A San Antonio, where he started the season with 10 saves.

El Paso is 40-37.

HIGH SINGLE-A LAKE ELSINORE (2-3, 36-39)

• Storm 3, Rancho Cucamonga 0: RHP Chris Paddack (1.75) struck out nine and allowed one hit and one walk over four shutout innings. He threw 43 of his 61 pitches for strikes in his first start of the second half. RHP Elliot Ashbeck (3-2, 2.18) threw 2 1/3 scoreless innings in the win and RHP Blake Rogers (3.22) struck out three in the ninth for his first save. LF Buddy Reed (.331) hit his 11th homer, 20th double and scored two runs.

LOW SINGLE-A FORT WAYNE (3-2, 35-39)

• TinCaps 5, Bowling Green 1: LHP Nick Margevicius (5-4, 2.92) struck out five and allowed one run on five hits in seven innings. RF Jack Suwinski (.225) went 2-for-4 with a triple, two RBIs and a run scored and SS Gabriel Arias (.216) went 1-for-4 with a double and a run scored.

SHORT-SEASON TRI-CITY (6-5)

• Dust Devils 6, Everett 5 (11): DH Dwanya Williams-Sutton (.185) doubled, hit his first homer and drove in two runs and RF Aldemar Burgos (.306), 1b Justin Paulsen (.318), 3B Olivier Basabe (.207) and CF Tre Carter (.263) each had two hits. LHP Ramon Perez (2.00) allowed three runs – two earned – over five innings in the start. 14

ROOKIE AZL PADRES1 (4-2)

• Padres 7, Dodgers 0: LHP Omar Cruz (0.00) struck out 10 and allowed one hit and one walk in four innings in his second start of the season. CF Juwuan Harris (.235) doubled, hit his first professional homer and drove in four runs and SS Xavier Edwards (.455), C Gilberto Vizcarra (.211) and DH Nick Gatewood (.370) each had two hits.

ROOKIE AZL PADRES2 (3-3)

• Padres 18, Rangers 7: 1B Jason Pineda (.435) hit for the cycle, which include his first homer of the season, drove in two runs and scored four times. 3B Elvis Sabala(.500) went 2-for-2 with his first homer and three RBIs and RF Yordi Francisco(.409) went 3- for-5 with a double, two RBIs and a run scored. LHP Hazahel Quijada (1-0, 7.36) struck out three over two scoreless innings for his first professional win.

ROOKIE DSL PADRES (12-8)

• Padres 8, D-backs 0: LHP Manuel Partida (1-0, 1.84) struck out six and scattered two hits and a walk over five shutout innings in the win. C Brandon Valenzuela(.279) and DH Emmanuel Guerra (.250) each drove in two runs and 2B Luis Paez (.217) and SS Yeison Santana (.246) each had two hits.

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Padres rally in 8th after Ross' strong outing Renfroe's go-ahead double caps frame in series-evening win By Wesley Dotson MLB.com Jun. 26th, 2018

ARLINGTON -- Padres right-hander Tyson Ross didn't get the win, but he turned in yet another strong start and continues to boost his trade value in advance of next month's non-waiver Trade Deadline.

Ross struck out five and gave up just five hits in six innings, and the Padres rallied with a three- run eighth for a 3-2 series-evening win over the Rangers on Tuesday at Globe Life Park. Ross kept the Padres close after giving up home runs to Rougned Odor in the second and Robinson Chirinos in the fourth.

"I felt pretty good, we had a good game plan going in, and I was able to get out of some jams," said Ross, who spent last season with the Rangers. "Unfortunately, the two homers put them ahead, but the offense did a great job coming back late."

San Diego couldn't break through against Texas starter Austin Bibens-Dirkx, who delivered five scoreless innings, but the bats found success against reliever Jake Diekman in the eighth. Wil Myers and Hunter Renfroe each logged RBI doubles and Christian Villanueva provided a sacrifice fly to erase what had been a quiet night offensively for the Padres.

"It was good to get some things going in succession right there," manager Andy Green said. "Overall, just a hard-fought win, which was fun to come back and get."

. 26th, 2018 The Rangers threatened to add to their lead in the sixth when they loaded the bases, but Ross struck out Delino DeShields to end the inning.

"Tyson was great again," Green said. "Loved seeing the punchout to get through the sixth inning right there. That was big for us to give us a chance. ... Tyson right there with his slider was a great matchup, and you're wanting Tyson to have the opportunity to get through that."

. 26th, 2018 San Diego's bullpen continues to be a strength. Matt Strahm struck out two in the seventh, Kirby Yatesstruck out the side in the eighth and Brad Hand worked the ninth for his 22nd save of the season.

Entering Tuesday, the bullpen owned a 3.53 ERA, which ranked fourth best in the National League and seventh best in the Majors.

"The bullpen shut it down like they've done all year," Ross said.

MOMENT THAT MATTERED With one out in the eighth, Manuel Margot saw 13 pitches in his at-bat against Diekman. The at-bat resulted in a pop out in foul territory, but Green said Margot's plate appearance was key in helping to start the rally. 16

"To me, the at-bat of the game was the Manny Margot at-bat," Green said. "I know he pops up foul, so that's tough to say about an at-bat like that, but how many pitches he fouled off, how hard he made Diekman work, just a tremendous at-bat.

"I think that kind of opened up opportunity for everybody else, and sometimes that gets lost in the shuffle when you don't end the at-bat successfully, but that was a heck of an at-bat."

HE SAID IT "It seemed like a while since we put up some runs. Offensively, we haven't been firing on all cylinders, so it was big to come from behind and kinda steal this one. It seemed like [the Rangers] had the momentum pretty much all game, so it was good for us to pull this one out," - - Eric Hosmer, on the eighth-inning rally

UP NEXT Padres left-hander Clayton Richard will start the rubber game against the Rangers at 5:05 p.m. PT on Wednesday at Globe Life Park. Over his past nine starts, he is 6-2 with a 3.03 ERA and has gone at least six innings in each of those outings. Lefty Mike Minor (5-4, 5.06 ERA) will start for Texas.

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Green easing Hedges back into Padres' lineup By Wesley Dotson MLB.com Jun. 26th, 2018

ARLINGTON -- Coming into the three-game Interleague set against the Rangers, Padres manager Andy Green already had a plan in place to give catcher Austin Hedges a day off on Tuesday.

Hedges returned from the disabled list on Sunday after being sidelined with right elbow tendinitis on May 1. Hedges played in the previous two games, and Green said he wants to ease Hedges back into action.

"Coming back, he had two [games] in a row, and he wasn't going to go four in a row, especially with 100-degree weather, right off the DL," Green said before Tuesday's contest at Globe Life Park. "This was the right game in the middle, for me."

Green said he is expecting Hedges to be in the starting lineup for the series finale here on Wednesday.

Green eyes rest for relievers After using his bullpen in the final four innings of Monday's 7-4 loss to the Rangers, Green said he is hoping to give his relievers a break in the coming days, especially with right-hander Tyson Ross on the mound on Tuesday and left-hander Clayton Richard scheduled to pitch on Wednesday.

The Padres will have an off-day on Thursday before opening a three-game series with the Pirates on Friday at Petco Park.

"It's definitely a hope in the next couple days, and those two guys [Ross and Richard] leading into a day off hopefully is a refresh, or reset, for the bullpen, but you never know," Green said. "[Texas] is a very good offensive club that's swinging the bats really well lately.

"I like both those guys on the mound for us, and I'm excited about these next two days. Come back and win the series will be the goal."

The Padres' bullpen entered Tuesday with a 3.53 ERA -- which ranked as the fourth-best mark in the National League and seventh-best in the Majors -- but it couldn't hold on to a 3-0 lead on Monday.

Craig Stammen, who has been dominant out of the bullpen, lost his first game of the season and gave up three runs to the Rangers. Those were the most runs he's given up in an outing since April 18.

Worth noting Eric Hosmer returned to the lineup on Tuesday after receiving a day off on Monday. Hosmer entered Tuesday batting .154 (6-for-39) over his past nine games.

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Christian Villanueva was given the day off on Tuesday and was replaced by Cory Spangenberg at third base. Villanueva is batting .182 (8-for-44) with 16 strikeouts in his past 15 games.

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Bullpen struggles under recent heavy workload Notes on Margot, Spangenberg, Renfroe, Szczur By Bill Center Jun. 26th, 2018

Including Saturday's unscheduled "bullpen start," the Padres have employed 18 relievers to cover 20 innings in their past four games.

Over that span, the Padres' bullpen has given up 14 runs (13 earned) on 20 hits and five walks - - an of 5.85, which is well above the bullpen's season ERA of 3.56. That is still the eighth-best mark in the Major Leagues.

Are Padres relievers showing signs of stress?

Adam Cimber and Craig Stammen have appeared in three of the last four games.

Kirby Yates and Brad Hand have appeared in two of the last three games, with Hand having two of his four blown saves while allowing five runs over three innings during the past week.

Robert Stock pitched during each of his first two days in the Major Leagues.

Jose Castillo worked in three straight games and four over a five-day span.

The Padres' bullpen has worked 306 innings, tied for the third-highest total in the Major Leagues.

Although the Padres are off to a 1-4 start after five games on this seven-game road trip, the starting pitchers have a 1.71 ERA.

Notebook

• CF Manuel Margot is 10-for-22 in a six-game hitting streak with four doubles, two homers, six RBIs and five runs scored. He is riding a streak of five straight games with extra-base hits -- one game shy of Eric Hosmer's longest such streak in 2018 and three shy of Nate Colbert's franchise record of getting extra-base hits in eight straight games in 1969.

• INF Cory Spangenberg has hit safely in a career-best 13 straight starts since June 4, going 20-for-54 (.370) with a double, two triples and two home runs for seven RBIs and 12 runs scored. He has a .574 slugging percentage during the run.

• OF Matt Szczur's single Monday night in Texas was his fourth since May 9. Appearing mostly as a pinch-hitter and a defensive substitute, Szczur is in a 4-for-34 slump that has dropped his batting average from .250 to .189.

• Hunter Renfroe is 6-for-12 with a double and a home run in his last three starts to raise his batting average from .228 to .254.

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Q&A: Padres pitching prospect Cal Quantrill talks about his recovery, his mindset and aiming for the next level By Dennis Lin Jun 26, 2018

FRISCO, Texas — Cal Quantrill displayed velocity, precision and a plus as the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year. He looked like a No. 1 draft pick for three starts as a sophomore at Stanford, delivering seven innings in an upset of baseball powerhouse Rice University. Then he required surgery and never pitched another game in college, though that did not dissuade the Padres from selecting him eighth overall in 2016. More than two years later, Quantrill is one of nine Double-A San Antonio players selected to Tuesday night’s Texas League All-Star Game. One teammate, Fernando Tatis Jr., is among the five best prospects in baseball. Another, Austin Allen, is a left-handed-hitting catcher and the league leader in slugging. A rotation mate, Logan Allen, is second in the circuit in ERA. Meanwhile, Quantrill has compiled a 4.31 ERA during the first half of the season, striking out nearly a batter per inning but also yielding a .270 batting average. His ranking on multiple prospect lists has slipped. But the following numbers are also worth remembering:

• Quantrill’s ERA sat at 5.32 just last month, after three consecutive poor starts. He currently has a 3.62 FIP. • On May 2, Quantrill completed seven innings for the first time in his professional career. He has since hit that mark twice more. • Two of Quantrill’s good friends, Joey Lucchesi and Eric Lauer, were the first pitchers from the 2016 draft class to reach the majors. There have been indications that Quantrill, 23, could join them in San Diego before the end of the season.

“The further away he gets from Tommy John surgery and just really focuses more on his pitch mix and the quality of his stuff and less [on] pitch limits … it’s really all about pitching right now,” Padres general manager A.J. Preller said. “And his fastball command’s been really good. I think the development of his slider has been a big part of it for him, and we definitely put a lot of focus on that. He keeps getting better and better, and obviously he’s always had a great changeup. “He’s a highly competitive kid, he wants to be good yesterday, and I think that’s a really good characteristic to have. He’s been pitching really well, and it’s a really nice development for us, just seeing his continued development as he gets to the big leagues.” Scouts say Quantrill, the son of former major league pitcher Paul Quantrill, could survive as a backend starter if called up today. The Padres continue to hold out hope for more. Here is another number to consider: 1,194 days have elapsed since Quantrill had his right elbow reconstructed. For some pitchers, that is more than enough time to shed all lingering effects of a major

21 surgery. For others, it is not. There have been countless cases, of course, in which an arm was never the same. Still, Quantrill has appeared fully healthy and intent on reaching new heights. In a recent conversation with The Athletic, the right-hander discussed turning a corner, changing his mindset and aiming for the next level. How would you evaluate your season so far? [This interview was conducted before Quantrill closed his first half with back-to-back five-inning starts.] I try to be pretty realistic about how I’m pitching, and I think that, overall, the season’s been really good. I had a two-week stretch where I apparently forgot how to pitch. I think I just kind of got away from what was working, tried to become something that maybe I’m not. I took a step back from that, and these last five starts have been a lot more what I’m capable of doing and a lot more, results or not, the approach that I should be pitching with. So I think it’s been good. I think there’s been some learning this season, I think there’s been some success. Obviously, a couple of tough starts, but that’s part of it. I’m just trying to stay consistent and lengthen the outings, make it more common. Six to eight [innings], six to eight, six to eight. Less fives. Pitch efficiency is something that I think has been a lot better in the last five games, which is allowing me to go deeper into games. I think that’s just pounding the strike zone and really forcing them to hit the baseball. Not pitching scared. Was there anything mechanically or pitch-selection-wise you did to get back to that? I don’t know that there were any huge mechanical changes I made. Honestly, what I did is I just said, “All right, I was really good as a freshman in college. What was I doing then?” I watched a couple videos and said, “OK, this is how I was attacking hitters,” and just went right back to that. And I think it really was that simple for me. It was basically, “All right, you’ve got a lot of stuff. You’re thinking about a lot of different things on the mound. You never used to do that. Just go back to a very simple approach. All strikes where they can’t hit them, all the time.” It seems to have been working. How did it feel to go seven innings for the first time this season? Good. It’s been a long time coming, right? Going from, it felt like, throwing 120-plus pitches every single start my college freshman year — I was throwing a ton; I was not getting pulled unless it was clear that I could not get another guy out — to Tommy John and a very slow starting-pitching recovery. I don’t feel like I was behind in terms of how I was coming along, but developing the feel to go three times through an order is something that took me awhile. And I feel like now I’m starting to get the hang of it. It feels good, it feels like being a again. Every time I go out there, I don’t want the ‘pen to have to work. I go out there and I plan on going nine. So the closer I get to that, it feels more and more natural. It feels more and more that’s what I’m paid to do. Since you were still only two years removed from Tommy John surgery last season, did you have any specific limitations that were placed on you? We definitely had some rules. I think, realistically, you’re not going to find many organizations that don’t have some rules. You’re not throwing out 23-year-olds for 140 pitches in games. Last year, I think that we had some. It wasn’t restricting in any sense, but there were some. I was always in a six-man rotation. This year, it feels more like, “Hey, you’re a minor-league starting pitcher. What can you do to prove that you can be a big-league starting pitcher? You’re on a five-man rotation, you’re going to get the same amount of pitches as everyone else. What can you do?” We still have rules, whatever the pitch count per inning is going to be or, like, a max number. But they’re reasonable, they’re kind of within what a big- league game would feel like. So it feels good. It feels like we’re back to playing real baseball. 22

Has it been all fastball-changeup-slider for you this season? Any curveballs? (Quantrill threw both breaking balls last season. The pitcher and the Padres agreed to focus on his slider this year.) Yeah, mixing in curveballs. I don’t know what the percentage has been, but a couple a game. I don’t see it as a pitch that’s ever going to be my bread-and-butter. But I do think it’s a useful pitch and I’m trying to include it in games regardless of how good or bad they’re going. Still keeping it on the table but not throwing it as much as I have previously. What’s it been like playing with eight other All-Stars? I’ve said it since the moment I signed. The Padres’ pitching in the minor leagues, and the big leagues now too, it’s loaded from top to bottom. That’s a good thing. I think a competitive person, a competitive baseball player should want to see a guy go out and pitch seven. So whoever’s got the ball today — Jacob Nix sees that I go seven; he should want to go 7 1/3, eight, nine. You always want to one-up the guy who goes before you, but you also want that person to succeed. I think that pitching on good pitching staffs is nothing but a positive. If you feel like you need to be the guy who’s the best all the time, you’re probably not going to play on a good team. You want to be one of the five best all the time. I love it. I think we’ve got a good team, we’ve got a good staff. Our ‘pen is phenomenal. I don’t know that they get enough credit for the amount of innings they’ve eaten this year. They’ve really shut down some games. … It’s fun being a part of a team that wins a lot. I’m sure you’ve been paying attention to what your friends Joey Lucchesi and Eric Lauer have been doing in the majors. How does that motivate you? Yeah, obviously super excited for those guys. They had such incredible years last year. They deserve to be where they’re at. It’s going to be nice to see Joey back on the bump after a little break. And Lauer’s obviously had a couple tough ones, but he seems to be settling in now. I really have no concern about either of those guys. I think that they’re very capable of competing, if not dominating, at the big-league level. It’s fun. I was pitching with them last year. I know I can pitch just as good as them. You’ve seen that this organization doesn’t shy away from challenging guys. I like that. I think that’s good. I think you do want to challenge guys. Throw them into the wind and, yeah, let them get their butts kicked maybe. Or maybe they’ll dominate. But you’ve got to figure out if you’re going to be able to do it and figure it out now, so you can have 15 years of really good pitching. I like that, I think that’s the right move, and I’m so happy to see a bunch of the guys I played with last year competing and doing well at the big-league level. How close do you feel you are to that next challenge, understanding this is the first year you’ve really been let loose? I was having a hard time coming to grips with that last year. You feel so good, you feel like you’re ready, but your body just isn’t there, whether because of the surgery or just learning how to pitch again. But I’m starting to feel like I don’t really care who you put in the box, like it doesn’t matter to me. It doesn’t matter right-, left-handed, big-leaguer or not. We see big-league rehab guys constantly here. Yeah, sure, it’s just one at-bat here and there, but I’m confident in my stuff. I feel like when I’m throwing what I want to throw it doesn’t matter what kind of lineup you put up there. So yeah, I want to be challenged. Obviously, I’d love to go to the next level, but I’ve made a real conscious effort this year of worrying about what I can worry about, controlling what I can control. That’s what I do on the mound, and I let the rest of the stuff take care of itself. It’s kind of the model I’m going to stick to.

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Padres rally past Rangers 3-2 as Choo extends on-base streak 9:28 PM PT Associated Press

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Shin-Soo Choo is a game away from matching the majors' longest on-base streak this season only because the Texas Rangerscouldn't protect a late lead in a loss to the San Diego Padres.

Choo singled with two outs in the ninth inning to reach base in his 39th straight game after Wil Myers and Hunter Renfroe hit run-scoring doubles as part of a three-run eighth that helped the Padres rally for a 3-2 win Tuesday night.

The Rangers led 2-0 when Choo struck out looking in the seventh to drop to 0 for 4. Instead of the streak ending in a win, though, Choo kept the Texas ninth alive with a liner over leaping shortstop Freddy Galvis before Brad Hand got to fly out with two runners on for his 22nd save.

"After fourth at-bat, strikeout, I wish we just finish the game," said Choo, who is trying to match a 40-game streak by Philadelphia's Odubel Herrera from March 30 to May 19. "That's a nice, clean game, 2-0. I'm not really expecting the fifth at-bat."

Four of six San Diego hitters reached against Jake Diekman (1-1). After Myers ended the Texas shutout, Christian Villanueva lifted a tying sacrifice fly to left before Renfroe's go-ahead liner down the line in left.

"We needed it a lot," said Eric Hosmer, whose one-out single helped get the rally going after a leadoff walk to Travis Jankowski. "Offensively, we haven't been firing on all cylinders, so it was big to come from behind, kind of steal this one."

Rougned Odor hit a solo homer for Texas in the second and Robinson Chirinosadded one in the fourth against former teammate Tyson Ross.

San Diego relievers struck out five straight batters, starting with the second of two from Matt Strahm (2-2) in the seventh. Kirby Yates fanned the side in the eighth and Hand finished the Padres' second win in 10 games. The Rangers lost just their second in the past 10.

Austin Bibens-Dirkx gave up two hits, struck out six and walked four in five innings in his fourth start for Texas. The right-hander is in a similar fill-in role from last season, when he made his major league debut as a 32-year-old following 12 years in the minors and won five games.

"Everyone before me did their job," Diekman said. "My job is to get it done and I didn't do that. That stings really hard."

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Mazara had three hits a night after leaving early for precautionary reasons because of tightness in his left hamstring.

ROSS SOLID AGAIN

Ross had another solid start in a bounce-back season after posting a 7.71 ERA for Texas last year before his late-season release in his return from surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome. The right- hander gave up five hits in six innings. Ross leads San Diego starters with a 3.32 ERA.

KUDOS TO COLON

Texas right-hander Bartolo Colon was honored before the game for passing Juan Marichal for the most wins by a Dominican-born pitcher. The 45-year-old earned his 244th career win at Kansas City on the most recent road trip. Manager Jeff Banister presented him with a jersey with "244" on the back, and a quote from Marichal was shown on the videoboard calling the milestone "a special achievement for your career and your country." Colon needs two wins to pass Dennis Martinez of Nicaragua for the most wins by a pitcher from Latin America.

TRAINER'S ROOM

Rangers: 1B Ronald Guzman was placed on the seven-day concussion disabled list a day after the rookie's head struck the knee of Padres third baseman Christian Villanueva when Guzman was diving back on an attempted pickoff. ... LHP Martin Perez struck out nine in five scoreless innings for Class A Hickory in his first rehab start Monday. Perez has been on the DL since May 10 with right elbow discomfort. Perez had arthroscopic surgery on that elbow in December. He broke a bone in a fall after being spooked by a bull on his ranch in Venezuela.

UP NEXT

LHP Clayton Richard (7-6, 4.23 ERA) is scheduled to pitch for the Padres in the finale of the three- game series. Richard is 6-2 during a streak of nine straight starts with at least six innings, the longest active streak for a lefty in the majors. Texas LHP Mike Minor (5-4, 5.06 ERA) hasn't allowed a homer in his past two starts after giving up at least one in each of the previous seven.

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This Day in Padres History — June 27

By Bill Center

June 27, 1969 — Left fielder Al Ferrara hits a three-run homer in the bottom of the first and Joe Niekro pitches a complete-game, six-hit shutout as the Padres blank the National League West- leading Dodgers 5–0 at San Diego Stadium.

June 27, 1989 — Tony Gwynn singles, steals second and scores on a Craig James single to lead the Padres to a 5–3, 17-inning win over the Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. The second run in the 17th scores on a sacrifice fly by Garry Templeton.

June 27, 1998 — Left-hander Sterling Hitchcock takes a no-hitter into the eighth when Angels’ catcher homers on the first pitch of the inning. Hitchcock allows one run on two hits and a walk with nine strikeouts in a complete game as the Padres win 5–1 at Qualcomm Stadium.

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Andy’s Address, 6/26 Andy Addresses getting length from Ross and Richard to rest bullpen plus Lyles, Hedges, Myers

By Bill Center

With the Padres having used 18 relievers in the past four games — including Saturday’s unscheduled “bullpen start” — Padres manager Andy Green is looking for Tuesday starter Tyson Ross and Wednesday starter Tyson Ross to go deeper into their games heading into Thursday’s day off.

“Definitely the hope over the next couple of days is those two guys going longer leading into a day off,” said Green. “Hopefully it is like a refresh and reset for the bullpen, but you never know. Texas is a very good offensive club that that swung the bats really well lately. They’ve had only one game where they haven’t in the last 10 days. It’s a tough offense to navigate, but I like both those guys on the mound for us these next two days. Our goal is coming back and winning the series.”

Going into Tuesday’s start, Ross has gone at least five innings in 10 straight starts dating back to the start of May. Richard has made nine straight starts of at least six innings.

Ross, of course, is returning to Arlington, Tex., where he pitched for the Rangers last season after coming off thoracic outlet surgery.

“It’s been an impressive journey,” Green said of Ross’s return to form in 2018. “Tyson’s crazy as an individual, the way he works, the way he gets after it. I watched (with pitching coach Darren Balsley) Tyson pitch here last year. We’d see it on TV when Ranger games were on between our batting practice and the start of games. We’d watch every game because you love the guy.”

“He was a shell of his former self at that point in time. Now he’s better than his former self, which is really cool to say someone has made that much progress in a year’s time. I know getting distance from surgery is big. But he’s also the kind of individual who is appreciative to Texas just for the opportunity they gave him coming off surgery. He’s not one of those guys who is going to go back to an organization and wants to stick it to them. He realizes they took a chance on him and he wasn’t fully healthy at that point in time.”

“I know he wants to win because he wants to win, but he’s such a quality individual, you love watching people like him succeed.”

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Right-hander Jordan Lyles, who went on the 10-day disabled list Sunday after being pulled from Saturday’s scheduled start due to elbow inflammation, rejoined the Padres in Texas Tuesday.

“Lyles is off from throwing until we get back home,” said Green. “Assuming he feels good, we’ll progress him relatively rapidly. If he doesn’t feel good and doesn’t have complete relief, then it moves slowly. It’s totally based on his symptoms and how he feels. There’s nothing structurally impeding our progress now. If he feels really good there’s no reason in the world to slow him down.”

Catcher Austin Hedges got a scheduled day off Tuesday.

“Coming back from the disabled list, Austin went two in a row and he wasn’t going to go four in a row especially in 100-degree weather,” said Green. “This was the right game in the middle for me and just let him breathe here today. It’s a day off and right back out there tomorrow.”

Green earlier said Wil Myers will also be rested more than normal following his lengthy stay on the disabled list.

“We might carry the breaks in his playing time for some time to insure he’s in a good physical spot and ready to go until we unleash him to go on a very consistent basis,” said Green. “Wil might play two and get a day off. He might play three and get a day off. He fits into a similar rotation.”

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#PadresOnDeck: RHP Chris Paddack, LHP Nick Margevicius Lead Chain of Strong Starts Arizona’s Justin Pineda Hits for Cycle; Buddy Reed has Double and Homer

By Bill Center

This could be one of the more notable #PadresOnDeck reports in recent memory.

— Eight members of the San Antonio Missions will represent the South Division Tuesday night in the Double-A Texas League All-Star Game at Midland.

— Starting pitchers Chris Paddack and Nick Margevicius turned in excellent performances Monday night while two, 17-year-old Mexican left-handers — Omar Cruz and Manuel Partida — turned in strong starts at the rookie level.

— First baseman Jason Pineda hit for the cycle in the ARL.

— Buddy Reed hit his 11th homer and 20th double for Advanced Single-A Lake Elsinore.

And there was more . . . like two, four-RBI games in the system, etc. How much good news in the system — Triple-A El Paso won a sixth straight game while pitchers from three teams pitched shutouts.

We’ll start at the top.

Shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. 19, who is ranked the Padres’ top prospect and №5 in all of the minor leagues by MLB Pipeline, leads the list of San Antonio players selected to the Texas League All-Star Game. He will be joined by left fielder Josh Naylor (the Padres’ №13 prospect), catcher Austin Allen(№26), third baseman Ty France, infielder River Stevens, right- handed starter Cal Quantrill (№4), left-handed starter Logan Allen (№8) and right-handed

29 reliever Rowan Wick. Left-handed reliever Brad Wieck was also selected, but was recently promoted to Triple-A El Paso.

Right-hander Paddack, who was recently added to the list of the top-100 prospects in the minor leagues, lowered his earned run average to 1.75 Monday night for Lake Elsinore, allowing one hit and a walk with nine strikeouts in four shutout innings. Paddack, 22, who is currently ranked the Padres’ №20 prospect, has 79 strikeouts against only four walks in 46 1/3 innings this season.

The left-handed Margevicius, 22, allowed one run on five hits and no walks with five strikeouts in seven innings to improve to 5–4 with a 2.92 ERA for Single-A Fort Wayne.

Partida allowed two hits and a walk with six strikeouts over five innings to pick up his first professional win while lowering his ERA to 1.84 in the Dominican Summer League. Cruz struck out 10 in four scoreless innings in the Arizona Rookie League, allowing a hit and a walk. He has allowed two hits in eight scoreless innings in two starts with one walk and 15 strikeouts.

The 18-year-old Pineda, who was a 17th round pick in the 2017 draft, was 4-for-5 with a walk, two RBIs and four runs scored to raise his batting average to .435. His was the third cycle in the Padres’ system this season.

The switch-hitting Reed, 22, went 2-for-4 with two runs scored to raise his batting average to .331.

As for the two, four-RBI games — left fielder Shane Peterson (.278) was 3-for-4 with two doubles and a home run for Triple-A El Paso and center fielder Jawuan Harris (.235) was 2- for-4 with a double and a homer in the ARL.

Around the Farm:

TRIPLE-A EL PASO (40–37): CHIHUAHUAS 7, Fresno 5–2B Luis Urías (.264) and 1B Allen Craig (.291) backed Peterson, each going 2-for-5 with a run scored and a RBI. C Brett Nicholas (.300) was 2-for-3 with a walk and two runs scored. 3B Carlos Asuaje (.342) was 1- for-4 with a sacrifice fly. DH Franmil Reyes (.333) was 1-for-4 with a walk. SS Javy Guerra (.203) was 1-for-4 with a run scored. Starting RHP Brett Kennedy (5–0, 3.06 ERA) allowed five runs (four earned) on five hits and two walks with three strikeouts in six innings. RHP Chris Huffman (6.49) allowed a hit in 1 2/3 scoreless innings. Wieck issued a walk with three strikeouts in 1 1/3 hitless, scoreless innings for the save.

DOUBLE-A SAN ANTONIO (3–3, 45–31): The Missions were off for the Texas League All-Star break.

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ADVANCED SINGLE-A LAKE ELSINORE (2–3, 36–39): STORM 3, Rancho Cucamonga 0 — RHP Elliot Ashbeck (3–2, 2.18 ERA) followed Paddack and allowed two hits with two strikeouts in 2 1/3 scoreless innings to get credit for the win. RHP Colby Blueberg (2.19) allowed a hit and a walk with a strikeout in 1 2/3 scoreless innings. RHP Blake Rogers (3.22) allowed a hit with three strikeouts in an inning to complete the shutout and get his first save. CF Edward Olivares (.259) backed Reed, with a RBI double in four at-bats. SS Allen Córdoba (.091) was 1-for-3 with a run scored. C Marcus Geene Jr.(.271) was 1-for-3 with a RBI.

SINGLE-A FORT WAYNE (3–2, 35–39): TIN CAPS 5, Bowling Green 1 — LHP Travis Radke (2.09 ERA) followed Margevicius and allowed a hit with a strikeout in two scoreless innings. DH Tirso Ornelas (.269) was 0-for-3 but drew a walk to reach base in a 26th straight game. CF Jeisson Rosario (.282) was 1-for-3 with three walks and a run scored. SS Gabriel Arias (.216) was 1-for-4 with a double and a run scored. 3B Luis Almanzar (.167) was 1-for-4 with a run scored. LF Jack Suwinski (.225) was 2-for-4 with a triple, two RBIs and a run scored.

SHORT-SEASON SINGLE-A TRI-CITY (6–5): Dust Devils 6, EVERETT 5 (11 innings) — DH Dwanya Williams-Sutton (.185) was 2-for-5 with a double, a homer, two RBIs and three runs scored. RF Aldemar Burgos (.306) was 2-for-5. 1B Jason Paulsen (.318) was 2-for-4 with a walk and a RBI. 3B Olivier Basabe (.207) had two doubles in four at-bats with a RBI. CF Tre Carter(.263) was 2-for-5 with a RBI. LF Michael Curry (.310) was 1-for-4 with a walk, a RBI and a run scored. Starting LHP Ramon Perez (2.00 ERA) allowed three runs (two earned) on four hits and three walks with three strikeouts in five innings. RHP Gabe Mosser (0.00) allowed a hit with two strikeouts in three scoreless innings. RHP Diomar Lopez (1–0, 1.50 ERA) allowed an unearned run on a hit with a strikeout in two innings to get the win. RHP Jordan Guerrero (0.00) allowed an unearned run on a hit with two strikeouts in an inning to get his second save.

DOMINICAN SUMMER LEAGUE PADRES (12–8): PADRES 8, Orioles-1 0–2B Luis Paez (.217) was 2-for-5 with a RBI and two runs scored. SS Yeisson Santana (.246) was 2-for- 3 with two walks and a run scored. C Brandon Valenzuela (.279) was 1-for-4 with two RBIs and a run scored. DH Emmanuel Guerra (.250) was 1-for-4 with a double, two RBIs and a run scored. RHP Edgar Martinez (2.45 ERA) followed Partida and allowed a hit and two walks with two strikeouts in three scoreless innings.

ARIZONA ROOKIE PADRES:

Padres-1 (4–2): Padres 7, Dodgers 0 — SS Xavier Edwards (.455) backed Harris, going 2-for-3 with a run scored. DH Nick Gatewood (.370) was 2-for-4 with a walk, a RBI and a run scored. C Gilberto Vizczarra (.211) was 2-for-3 with a home run, two walks, two RBIs and three runs scored. RHP Martin Carrasco (0.00) followed Cruz and allowed two hits and a walk with two strikeouts in 1 2/3 innings. LHP Jose Cabrera (4.91) issued two walks with two strikeouts in 1 1/3 hitless, scoreless innings. RHP Tom Colletti (3.60) struck out two in two perfect innings.

PADRES-2 (3–3): PADRES 18, Rangers 7 — RF Yordi Francisco (.409) backed Pineda, going 3- for-5 with a double, two RBIs and a run scored. LF Blinger Perez (.400) was 2-for-4 with a 31 double, two walks, three RBIs and three runs scored. 3B Elvis Sabala (.500) was 2-for-2 with a home run, a walk and three RBIs. 2B Tucupita Marcano (.350) was 2-for-4 with a walk, a sacrifice fly and a run scored. 3B Ruddy Giron (.333) was 1-for-3 with a double, a RBI and a run scored. Starting RHP Manny Guzman (5.14 ERA) gave up three runs on five hits and a walk with five strikeouts in four innings.

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Richard set to start as Padres eye a win in series finale STATSJun 27, 2018 at 12:32p ET

The Texas Rangers’ list of injured players continues to mount as first baseman Ronald Guzman was placed in the seven-day concussion disabled list on Tuesday.

After seven days Guzman will need to pass another series of tests before being allowed to rejoin the team. He sustained the concussion in the sixth inning of Monday night’s 7-4 victory over the San Diego Padres as he dove back to third base to beat a pickoff throw and was kneed in the head.

San Diego rallied with three runs in the eighth on RBI doubles by Wil Myers and Hunter Renfroe and a sacrifice fly by Christian Villanueva to beat the Rangers 3-2 on Tuesday and even the series at a game each.

The Padres will send left-hander Clayton Richard (7-6, 4.23 ERA) to the mound in the series finale Wednesday at Globe Life Park in Arlington, Texas, while Texas will counter with left-hander Mike Minor (5-4, 5.06).

“We want to make sure these guys are completely clear,” Texas manager Jeff Banister said of Guzman’s injury. “We want to make sure we pay attention to, be diligent about this and not mess around. We are in that time of the year moving into the All-Star break where guys have gone at it hard, the heat, we have a number of guys who are feeling the effects of playing.”

Texas right fielder Nomar Mazara and left fielder are both nursing hamstring injuries. Mazara left Monday’s game with the injury and was relegated to designated hitter on Tuesday. Gallo played and went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts.

Going into Tuesday’s game, San Diego was hoping to avoid extensive use of its bullpen after its relief corps was pushed in an extra-inning loss at San Francisco on Sunday and had to pick up the final four innings of Monday’s setback in the series opener against Texas.

Three Padres relievers did the job in the victory Tuesday, with Matt Strahm (who got the win with a one-hit seventh), Kirby Yates (who struck out all three batters he faced) and Brad Hand (two hits in the ninth while earning his 22nd save of the year) coming through.

“When relievers are exposed or used a lot more, they’re less successful than when they’re fresh,” San Diego reliever Craig Stammen said. “I know that’s key for me . . . pitch us two days in a row, three days in a row, we get less effective. You just don’t have as much on your fastball. You’re not as strong. That’s just a fact of pitching.”

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Richard will make his club-leading 17th start of the season in the series finale against the Rangers. Over his past nine starts, he is 6-2 with a 3.03 ERA.

Richard’s nine straight starts of tossing at least six innings lead the majors for the longest such streak by a lefty after the Padres snapped Texas’ Cole Hamel’s streak of eight straight on Monday night.

Richard has won four consecutive decisions for just the second time in his career (also June 22, 2011-April 8, 2012).

Richard is 0-0 with a 4.40 ERA in six career appearances, including two starts, against Texas.

Minor will make his 15th start of the season. He has posted quality starts in each of his last three outings and is seeking four consecutive quality starts for the first time since he had six in a row, Aug 12-Sept. 8, 2014 with Atlanta.

Minor has gone 1-0 with a 2.84 ERA over his past three starts to lower his ERA from a season high 5.76 to 5.06. He will be working on regular four days’ rest after earning the win in Rangers’ 8-1 victory on Friday at Minnesota. He gave up one run on three hits over six innings in that game.

Minor is 1-3 with a 5.55 ERA in five games, four of them starts, against the Padres in his career. He will be making his first start against San Diego since Aug. 1, 2014.

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Exiled by the Cubs, Sammy Sosa Is Enjoying the Life He Wants You to See

By JASON BUCKLAND AND BEN REITER June 27, 2018

Inside the cool, hushed second-floor lounge of Dubai’s grandest hotel, a waiter carefully prepares a shallow glass of 12-year Macallan. A familiar figure smiles, observing the meticulous way that his drink—nearly $100 for a double portion—is prepared. Three ice cubes, so symmetrical they could have been laser cut, gleam as they’re tongued into the scotch without a splash or even a clink.

He leans back, arms wide, into a plush sofa trimmed in blue leather. A crisp blue suit clings to his shoulders and chest, still broad from 500 push-ups each day, even as he’s set to turn 50 in November. His golden eyeglasses are stamped MAYBACH across each temple. A monogram peeks from under the left sleeve of his jacket: S.S. He gazes up into the majestic atrium of the 56 - story Burj Al Arab Jumeriah, self-billed as “the Most Luxurious Hotel in the World” and famously shaped like a sail swelling above the azure waters of the Persian Gulf. “Now,” he says, “you see why it’s seven stars.”

Twenty summers after he and Mark McGwire chased the ghost of Roger Maris—and saved a sport, as they both contend—this is the life of Sammy Sosa. Or at least the one he wants you to see. His are the curated days of an Instagram influencer, even if Sosa isn’t much for social media. “I never watch Facebook, Instagram, some of that B.S. s---,” he says. “I don’t have time for that.”

But those are the places we’ve glimpsed Sosa since he took his last MLB swing, in 2007. He looks different from the man whose every plate appearance late in the summer of 1998 was a public spectacle as he slugged his way to 66 homers, just behind McGwire’s 70. His skin tone is lighter, the source of much confusion, speculation and ugly rubbernecking. (Deadspin: SAMMY SOSA IS A TERRIFYING VAMPIRE.) Sosa professes not to care. “Look at what I am today,” he says, motioning a hand toward the opulence around him. “This is my life, and I don’t take garbage from nobody. I do whatever I want.”

It is, in some ways, his third life. In this one he’s a devoted husband—he has been married to Sonia, the mother of his six children, for 26 years—and an international man of commerce. Although he won’t provide many verifiable details, he says he has interests in his home country, the Dominican Republic (oil); as well as in Panama (stormproof housing); the U.K. (beverages and hospitality); and the United Arab Emirates (real estate).

He officially established residency in the UAE a few years ago, for business reasons but also for pleasure, which explains his twice-yearly trips to Dubai from his homes in Miami and Santo Domingo. Here, Sosa rubs elbows with the elite, laughing and cajoling his way through a chance encounter with two well-appointed Dominican businessmen, catching up with them in rapid Spanish outside an upscale restaurant and commemorating the occasion with a photo. Sosa says he knows the men from home, from years ago. “How about that?” he shrugs, grinning wide. 35

This is all a long way from his first life, which he spent sleeping on the dirt floor of his family’s two-room house in San Pedro de Macorís, where he’d shine shoes in the park for a quarter. He attended school through seventh grade and didn’t play baseball until he was 14. “When I made my first contact, I hit the ball very hard,” he says. “My friend told my brother, ‘We have a chance.’”

That led to his second life—the public one and, for many people, the one that continues to be problematic. When Sosa was 20, after his first season in the majors, he brought $40,000 in cash back to the D.R. and laid it out on a bed so his family could take turns jumping into the lush pile of green. Nearly a decade later the guy who as a rookie hit four home runs and was described in one early scouting report as 150 pounds and “malnourished,” had transformed into Slammin’ Sammy, a chiseled, joyous 225-pounder who delighted the world with his trademarks: sprinting from the Cubs’ dugout to rightfield; hopping sideways toward first base as his homers rocketed into the night; touching two fingers to his lips, then to his heart, then back again to each.

How had he done it? Everyone thinks they know. The Cubs, the franchise Sosa shook from an 80 - year snooze, certainly think they do. “Players of that era owe us a little bit of honesty,” owner Tom Ricketts (whose family bought the team in 2009) told fans in January. “The only way to turn that page is to put everything on the table.”

In fact, that’s not necessarily the case. Most of the players tainted by accusations of steroid use have never apologized for, much less admitted to, any transgressions. And yet: The Giants will retire the jersey number of Barry Bonds (who never apologized) in August. Roger Clemens (never apologized) is a special assistant to Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow. Even Alex Rodriguez (sort of apologized) has returned as an adviser to the Yankees.

Sosa, though, remains in exile. The Cubs’ view is that the power to change this situation is Sosa’s alone. “It’s never been our position that we want Sammy to wear a hair shirt and sit in front of Wrigley and be punished for weeks on end,” says a team source. “This is simply, ‘I messed up, and there’s something to learn from it, and I’d love to get back in the fold.’ It would take one sentence.”

It’s the one sentence Sosa won’t say. “I never failed a drug test,” he says today. “So why are you asking me about that, when they don’t have nothing on Sosa?”

After Dubai, Sosa’s travel plans include visits to Monaco, London and Paris. He’ll go to cities all over the globe—except one. It’s been 11 years since he set foot in Chicago.

Mark McGwire sits on an allegedly leather couch in a windowless office next to the visitors’ clubhouse at Nationals Park in Washington, bathed in a sickly, fluorescent-green light. He wears a Lycra gaiter on his head, and a sleeveless Padres T-shirt reveals 54-year-old biceps—still considerable if no longer the 19 inches in circumference they were two decades ago. He’s exactly where he wants to be. “I love it,” he says of his nine-year career as an MLB coach. “I absolutely love passing on what I learned as a player.”

The great home run race of 1998 started out between two American heroes, the Cardinals’ McGwire and the Mariners’ Ken Griffey Jr. Through May, McGwire had 27 and Griffey had 19. Then, in June, Sosa went nuts. He entered the month with 13 homers and ended it with 33, the most ever in a single calendar page. The tormented fans in ’s bleachers suddenly had something to celebrate. And a demoralized country found a positive sports story to 36 counterbalance a political scandal about a president and an intern. “We were bringing the game back,” says McGwire. “People had a really bad taste in their mouths after the ’94 strike; a lot of people didn’t watch baseball. But ’98 brought those fans back. I’m very proud of that. I still get people thanking me.”

The enthusiasm over the chase meant that even loose suspicions about all the long balls were met quickly with qualifiers. When the AP’s Steve Wilstein wrote in August that there was a bottle of Androstenedione in McGwire’s locker—the substance produces testosterone in the body, and its use was banned in many sports but not by MLB—his third paragraph began with this: “No one suggests that McGwire wouldn’t be closing in on Roger Maris’ home run record without the over - the-counter drug. ...”

The chase felt good. America was falling in love, especially with McGwire’s unlikely Dominican challenger. And as the two separated themselves from Griffey, Sosa became the soul of the summer.

While Sosa embraced the attention, McGwire bristled at times. He was often colder with the press than his spirited Chicago counterpart was. “If I didn’t help the club win, and somebody else did, I felt really bad that the media was asking about me and not my teammates,” McGwire says. “That’s the thing I would get irritated about.”

Sosa never seemed annoyed. He was thrilled to be chasing Maris with the 6'5" McGwire. “Coming from a different country, fighting with Goliath, me and him, boom-boom-boom,” Sosa says. “I was already a winner just to compete with Mark.” (It helped too that Sosa would receive news that his every home run triggered a party in the streets of the D.R.)

To accommodate a growing horde of reporters, special press conferences had to be called whenever the Cubs played the Cardinals. But the reality was that the two men at the center of it all rarely interacted. They’d say hello at first base or outside media rooms. When McGwire broke Maris’s 37-year-old record with blast number 62 on Sept. 8, it was against the Cubs in St. Louis—the highest-rated regular-season game since 1982. As Sosa arrived from rightfield to throw his arms around McGwire—“You’re the man!” Sosa shouted, over and over—you would have thought these two were great friends, united by more than their shared pursuit of history. The truth was something different. “We don’t know each other that well,” McGwire says.

As the NL Central rivals approached the last weekend of the regular season, even the team-first McGwire felt as if he were competing against one man—a man who had just tied him at 65 homers. The Cardinals were playing the Expos in St. Louis, the Cubs were in Houston. On Sept. 25, McGwire heard the Busch Stadium crowd gasp. “I knew Sammy had hit a home run,” he says. “I had to put it into another gear: I’m not allowing him to pass me, to take over this record.” McGwire homered in his next at bat, and then twice in each of his remaining two games. Sosa didn’t go yard again. Still, if the record was McGwire’s, history belonged to both of them, strangers paired forever.

Seven years later they were together again, subpoenaed to appear before Congress for he arings about doping. McGwire was tearful and opaque. “I’m not here to discuss the past,” he said. “I’m here to be positive about this subject.”

Sosa, at the time, seemed to have a modest grasp of the English with which he’d once chopped it up with Jay Leno. But the language was his second, and the stage in Washington, D.C., more stressful than the set of The Tonight Show. To lasting public opprobrium, he largely relied on 37 someone else to speak for him in front of Congress. “I have never taken illegal performance- enhancing drugs,” his attorney said on his behalf. “I have never injected myself or had anyone inject me with anything. I’ve not broken the laws of the United States or the laws of the Dominican Republic.” It did not take seasoned lawyering to identify the gray areas, such as the possibility that he had taken PEDs orally or used substances that might have been banned from baseball but not illegal.

McGwire was then four years into his own exile from baseball, during which he remarried and started a second family. Yet his time away from the game was self-imposed; Cardinals manager Tony La Russa kept encouraging him to return as a coach. And he finally agreed to do so before the 2010 season, following a short apology tour in which he conceded, “I wish I had never touched steroids. It was a mistake. I truly apologize.”

“I had to go through what I had to go through,” McGwire says now. “But it wasn’t easy.” He has since worked steadily in the game, spending three seasons as the Cardinals’ hitting coach, three in the same role with the Dodgers and three as the bench coach for the Padres.

When Sosa stood before Congress, he still had two seasons left to play: one with the Orioles and one, after a year away from baseball in 2006, with the Rangers. He hit his final homer—number 609, still the ninth-most ever—on Sept. 26, 2007, but no team has invited him back in any role since.

Perhaps that has something to do with the way his 13-year tenure with the Cubs ended, in 2004. The shine of 1998 had long before worn away, thanks in part to his being caught using a corked bat in 2003. He had his critics, those who felt Selfish Sammy only cared about the cameras and his stats, or that he took advantage of privileges granted him by his team. Thirteen minutes into a meaningless game on the last day of the ’04 season, with Chicago miles from playoff contention and Sosa out of the lineup, the team’s all-time home run (and strikeout) leader departed Wrigley for what would prove to be the last time. After the final pitch, a teammate approached Sosa’s double locker with a bat. He stood over the rightfielder’s boom box, the stereo that some felt he had used to exert his musical taste—and influence—over the clubhouse, and smashed it to pieces.

The attack, now the stuff of Cubs legend, seems to suggest that Sosa had turned off many with whom he’d shared the clubhouse. But not everyone remembers him that way. Whenever Jim Riggleman, who managed the Cubs from 1995 through ’99, would chew him out for chasing steals or being sloppy in the field, Sosa always had the same reply: “You’re right, skip.” Says Riggleman, “He never fought me on anything.”

When first baseman Derrek Lee joined the Cubs in 2004, Sosa often offered him a chauffeured ride home from games. “I would have a hard time thinking of one negative thing about him as a teammate,” Lee says.

“He was a role model,” says Aramis Ramírez, who became the Cubs’ third baseman in 2003. “As a Dominican player, you wanted to be like him.”

The Cubs no longer seem to wish that anyone be like him, but Sosa is not begging for the team’s endorsement, either; he relishes the comforts of his new life. In Dubai, under the relentless desert sun, Sosa, in his blue suit, sits in the back of a black SUV as it weaves through traffic, stealing glances at this new world. Luxury car showrooms with tall glass windows line the freeway. Billboards rise high above the streets, advertising haute couture or exclusive real estate, or

38 bearing the unsmiling likeness of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, prime minister of the UAE and ruler of Dubai.

As the shadow of the towering Burj Khalifa approaches, Sosa casts his eyes upward. He looks the part of a cosmopolitan dealmaker, black iPhone pressed to his ear. But he is not on some high - stakes conference call, discussing a deal. He’s listening to Bible verses in Spanish. Often with Sosa, things are not what they seem.

Take his feelings about the Cubs. Sometimes he says he doesn’t need them. But he also says, “I miss the game. I miss the fans. The people lifted me up for so many years. I would like to co me back and say, ‘Hey, I’m here.’ Time will heal everything. Sooner or later—could be now, or 20 years—they have to open the door.”

Time heals. It also does something else. “You’re here one day,” McGwire says. Then, “You’re gone.” Many young Padres have no memory of their burly coach as a player. Sometimes they’ll watch videos of the summer of 1998 on the Internet. “Damn, Mac,” they’ll tell him, “you could swing.” On the night before McGwire sat in the clubhouse at Nationals Park, a rookie phenom for Washington, leftfielder Juan Soto, hit his first career homer. Soto was born one month after the ’98 regular season ended.

McGwire has six children, including triplet eight-year-old daughters, and they too have to resort to YouTube to see their father at the peak of his powers. Only Matthew, a 10-year-old Cardinals bat boy in 1998 who now works for a golf apparel company, remembers. McGwire didn’t keep a single artifact from his most famous summer; he distributed them to people who helped him along the way. “Not one item,” he says. “I wanted everybody that was a part of ’98 to have those pieces—my batting gloves, my shoes. They’re in my mind. My heart. I didn’t need them.” Now, 20 years on, part of him wishes he’d saved something for his kids.

Sosa’s oldest son, Sammy Jr., was just one in the summer of 1998. He’s 21 now, tall and lean, a music engineer, the spitting image of his father as a younger man. Junior, as his dad calls him, helps him with his enterprises.

At one point during dinner on the 122nd floor of the Burj Khalifa, Junior, who has accompanied his father to Dubai, excuses himself to take a business call. Years ago he was an elite prospect in his own right. At 12 he was playing with boys five or six years his elder, traveling to the D.R. for summer camps alongside some of the country’s best young stars. Even then, there was no escaping his father’s shadow. “Steroid baby,” people would call him. Junior quit baseball as a teenager, in part because the wisecracks grew to be too much. He never did tell his father what people had said about him.

Junior also doesn’t discuss with his dad the things people say online. Sosa’s appearance has changed, the result of a skin cream that he years ago began applying daily. “It doesn’t affect him, but I’m sure he feels a certain way,” Junior says. “Like, ‘Man, I gave so many years and so much hard work for you guys, and now you want to undermine all that because of some decisions I’m making—some personal decisions that don’t affect you at all?’”

When Junior was young, he resented the outsiders who clamored for his dad’s attention, seeking photos at the mall or autographs at the movies. I don’t spend enough time with him, he thought to himself. And the little time I have with him, you’re trying to take from me?

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But when Sosa left baseball—or when baseball left Sosa—he had more time to devote to his children. On the diamond he’d been all smiles, but at home he’d carried a hardened exterior, molded by the burden of a superstar’s responsibilities. That softened with retirement. Now “he listens a lot more,” says Junior.

Still, there are parts of Sammy Sosa that remain a mystery to his family. “He’s a really closed -off person, even with me,” Junior says. “He doesn’t mean to be. There are some things I don’t know about my dad that I wonder about.”

Among them may be a fuller understanding of the summer of 1998—what it meant then and what it means now. “It feels like yesterday, ’cause that was the year that I shocked the world— that we shocked the world,” Sosa says. Most remember that it was McGwire who hit 70 home runs, a record broken three years later by Bonds. But it was Sosa who batted .308 and led all of baseball in runs, total bases and RBIs. Sosa was the NL MVP.

That was a magical year for Sosa, but it may be only to him that it feels like yesterday. Most of his children (and his granddaughter Kira, born in April to his oldest daughter, Keysha) have had no opportunity to feel for themselves the way he was once revered. That is one reason why today, after a decade of reclusiveness, he is cautiously reemerging during this anniversary year.

The Cubs have allowed Sosa’s number 21 to be worn by nine players since he left town. The only real sign of him at Wrigley these days is on a small flag that flutters among the dozens that ring the ballpark. It reads SAMMY on one side, 66 on the other. That’s it.

While relaxing in Dubai—which generally means avoiding the 111º heat—Sosa will sometimes open up about his feelings toward his former team. On his last night, after nine hours of sightseeing and photo shoots, he changes into a white polo shirt and dark blue jeans. He’s gripping another double 12-year Macallan when his pique emerges. “I passed Ernie Banks for most home runs in history,” he says. “He has a statue, and I don’t have nothing. So, what the f---?”

He expresses frustration, too, with the Ricketts family, who insist that they run a values-driven organization and who have publicly maintained a hard line toward Sosa—harder than any other owner of a club that once employed a legend of the steroid era. “They come in and buy the team and they have a mark on me, and I don’t know why,” Sosa says. Of chairman Tom Ricketts, Sosa says, “This guy never was there when I was there.” (Ricketts declined to be interviewed for this story.)

The Cubs’ mark on Sosa, though, hasn’t always been indelible. According to a source close to the club, representatives of the Cubs met with Sosa in 2014, at the behest of Dominican government officials, to discuss a possible homecoming. According to the source, Sosa agreed that he would issue an apology—that is, something to acknowledge malfeasance, but short of a total confession. The next day, Sosa backed out.

Through an email from a spokesperson, Sosa confirms this account: In an effort to put the past behind us I agreed to meet with a PR firm representing the Cubs. Everyone signed confidentiality agreements, so I do not bring this up in interviews. All I will say is that after meeting with this group, I agreed to make a statement that would heal things. Both sides agreed upon this statement. When the time came, I felt like I was being swept up in a PR machine that wa s moving 40 way too fast and not adhering to the spirit of our agreement, so I pulled out. I never met with anyone from the Cubs and do not hold anything against them. I always wish them well. —Sammy

Tom Ricketts has always said that the only way for Sosa to be welcomed back to Wrigley would be for him to admit his transgressions. Sosa acknowledges that he was willing (four years ago, anyway) to concede them in such a way that he could return to the place he still calls “my house.” Semantic gymnastics typically accompany the topic of steroids in baseball, but it doesn’t require an expert to come to a judgment as to what Sosa is really saying.

It is still fair, though, to wonder about a few other things. Such as why a billionaire who has never been anything but spectacularly wealthy—Ricketts’s father, Joe, founded the brokerage firm TD Ameritrade—insists that a man who grew up sleeping on Caribbean dirt accede fully to his terms. Keep in mind, these values-oriented Cubs traded in 2016 for closer Aroldis Chapman, who had months earlier been suspended 30 games for allegedly choking his girlfriend and firing eight gunshots in her vicinity. (Chicago considered Chapman to have sufficiently apologized and to have paid his penalty by serving his suspension.)

Would the Cubs be more receptive to a reconciliation if not for a few twists of fate? For instance: What if a memorably bespectacled fan hadn’t helped them wash out of the 2003 NLCS? What if they hadn’t ended their 108-year curse in ’16, with Chapman aboard and Sosa watching from Paris? Now, says Michael Wilbon, the ESPN personality and Cubs superfan, “I go to a lot of stuff in Chicago—cocktail parties, receptions, games. We don’t ever talk about Sammy Sosa.”

Or might things have played out differently had Sosa been more conclusively linked to steroids? His name wasn’t, in fact, one of the 89 included in 2007’s canonical Mitchell Report. Though he was fingered in ’09 by The New York Times as appearing on a list of players who failed what was supposed to be an anonymous round of PED testing in ’03, Commissioner Rob Manfred cautioned in ’16 against drawing conclusions from that. (“It was hard to distinguish between certain substances that were legal, available over the counter, and not banned under our program,” Manfred said of the testing round, which also named the Red Sox’ wholly beloved slugger David Ortiz. “There were legitimate scientific questions about whether or not those were truly positives.”) Had Sosa been more directly implicated, might that have forced some resolution?

Of course, Sosa could always just admit to something and be done with the matter, but that may not comport with the self-sculpted man he continues to show himself to be. So time moves on and Sosa remains in limbo, sartorially splendid and yet nowhere near the city or sport that made him famous. “You’re from the Dominican, and you come to the States because this is the best place to play,” says Lance Johnson, a longtime teammate who insists he never saw any evidence that Sosa used steroids. “You leave when you’re done, and then you feel like you’re not respected for what you did when you were here. Now, couldn’t that make pretty much anybody into a recluse?”

Sosa isn’t in hiding; he’s just not where anyone expected him to be. Eventually, as midnight nears in the desert, he grows tired of answering questions about his second life. “One second,” he interrupts, a cloud of shisha smoke hanging over the patio bar of yet another luxury hotel, a ra re moment outdoors. “We’re in Dubai. Look at the view.”

Out in the darkness is the bright skyline of this once dusty outpost, home to fewer than 60,000 people when Sosa was born five decades ago half a world away, but since transformed by oil-rich sheikhs and slave labor into a gleaming metropolis of three million. It is the most artificial city in the world, but it is also undeniably real. It dazzles in the distance.

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