Padres Press Clips Friday, August 24, 2018 Article Source Author Page Long-ball again bites Kirby Yates in Padres’ walk-off loss SD Union Tribune Sanders 2 Padres notes: Asuaje and not Urias, Myers update and Holliday talk SD Union Tribune Sanders 6 Gabriel Arias surging at Fort Wayne SD Union Tribune Sanders 9 Logan Allen wins third straight PCL start SD Union Tribune Sanders 12 After Pirela forges lead, Padres fall on walk-off MLB.com Cassavell 16 Father figure: ‘Dad’ fitting nickname for Ellis MLB.com Cassavell 19 Villanueva placed on DL; season in doubt MLB.com Cassavell 21 See the Padres Players’ Weekend nicknames MLB.com Cassavell 23 This is the most indispensable Padres player MLB.com Gilbert 25 ‘This kid’s got ice water in his veins’: Andres Munoz, 19, throws The Athletic Lin 27 103 mph, and could be the Padres’ next great reliever Rockies welcome back Matt Holliday, upend Padres AP AP 31 #PadresOnDeck: LHP Allen, SS Guerra, C Mejia, 2B Urias Star FriarWire Center 33 As Triple-A El Paso Wins Eighth Straight to Near Fourth Straight Division Title Andy’s Address, 8/23 FriarWire Center 38 Padres prospect watch: Luis Urias putting up big numbers for FOX Sports Horvath 40 red-hot Chihuahuas Desmond hits 2-run homer in 9th, Rockies beat Padres 4-3 FOX Sports AP 41 1 Long-ball again bites Kirby Yates in Padres' walk-off loss Jeff Sanders Jose Pirela may have a new lease on playing time. Kirby Yates may have some adjusting to do to his new role. The former’s three-hit game was wasted in Thursday’s 4-3 walk-off loss to the Rockies at Coors Field, the knock-out blow coming via the third ninth-inning homer that Yates has allowed in his last four appearances as the Padres’ new closer. All three tagged Yates with a loss. “It's kind of the only mistake I felt I made,” Yates said. “A one-run lead in this ballpark, it's kind of all it takes — a bloop and a blast. It sucks. I got him the other night. He got me today.” He was Ian Desmond. The bloop was Trevor Story’s one-out fly ball falling in front of right fielder Travis Jankowski. The mistake was a 1-0 splitter that didn’t dive. Two days after whiffing on a pitch beneath the strike zone in a game Yates saved, Desmond yanked Thursday’s offering 419 feet to left field to spoil both rookie Joey Lucchesi’s best day on the mound in more than four months and Pirela’s encouraging return to a prominent role. “Mistakes have gone out of the ballpark,” said Yates, who allowed game-losing homers to the Angels’ Rene Rivera and the D-backs’ A.J. Pollock in the last nine days. “Probably not the best pitches. Some of them aren't bad pitches. You know, guys 2 probably have better plans coming into me now at this point in the season. I'm starting to face these guys multiple, multiple times. “Hitters make adjustments and sometimes they get their pitch and they don't miss it and you have to tip your hat.” Lucchesi deserved a hat-tip, too. He struck out six, scattered five hits and a walk and threw 54 of his 81 pitches for strikes. His only real mistake was a 2-0 sinker in the middle of the plate that David Dahlhammered over the wall in right with two outs in the fifth inning to put the Padres in a 1-0 hole. Dahl also doubled in the third to log the first hit off Lucchesi. A second run scored in the sixth when Charlie Blackmon singled, swiped second base, moved to third on a groundball and scored on Nolan Arenado’s sacrifice fly to center. Lucchesi had already fanned Arenado twice, including in the fourth when he struck out D.J. LeMahieu, Arenado and Story in order. He left after six innings for pinch-hitter Wil Myers with only his second quality start since April 15. A minor adjustment at the behest of pitching coach Darren Balsley and bullpen coach Doug Bochtler — raising his fastball arm slot to match his churve’s — made all the difference. “Coach Bals and Coach Bochtler helped me with my arm delivery, just releasing the same pitches with the same arm slot and trying to carry that over into the game,” Lucchesi said. “They were swinging through a lot of fastballs and a lot of churves. I just tried to bring what I worked on in the bullpen into the game.” Said Padres manager Andy Green: “I'm excited for what we saw in Joey Lucchesi. I thought it was one of his best outings all season long. I thought his fastball command was good. I thought he had command of his churve. … He was not getting hit. He 3 looked good. It's one of those situations that he would have gone out for the seventh had we not needed to score a run.” They got their first on Hunter Renfroe’s sixth-inning homer off Kyle Freeland (6 1/3 IP, 2 ER). Then they got two more in the seventh when Myers – in his first action since taking a ball off his nose Wednesday – followed A.J. Ellis’ one-out single with a walk. Story’s error on Freddy Galvis’ grounder to shortstop loaded the bases and Pirela’s single up the middle drove in two runs to give the Padres a 3-2 lead, their first of the game. Starting for the second day in a row at second base in place of the injured Christian Villanueva, Pirela also singled in the first and fourth innings and had an opportunity to add insurance runs in the ninth when he bounced into an inning-ending double play. Pirela has started only 11 games since the All-Star break but three more lefties this weekend in Los Angeles — Rich Hill, Clayton Kershaw and Alex Wood — sets up for a busy weekend for a player who appeared destined for a bench role before Villanueva fractured his finger Tuesday night. “We've got nothing but lefties coming up right now,” Green said. “It probably makes a lot of sense that you're going to see him in there, especially if he continues to have good at-bats. Those are the guys we're rolling with right now.” The same goes for the back of a new-look bullpen that fetched eight outs without incident after Lucchesi’s exit. Rookie right-hander Trey Wingenter struck out one in a scoreless seventh, Green managed left-hander Jose Castillo (two outs) and right-hander Craig Stammen (one out) through an uneventful eighth and Yates fanned Arenado with a splitter to start the ninth. He used another to sit down Gerardo Parra after Story’s bloop single to right. 4 The last he threw to Desmond simply caught too much of the middle of the plate, saddling Yates with his first blow save of the year. The home runs he gave up last week – when he’d been seldom used – were in tied ballgames. Admittedly, the lack of regular work that Yates had in Brad Hand’s shadow is requiring some adjustments. The ninth-inning job is different, too – but one that Yates wants. “You give up a hit and you're losing the game and walking off the mound,” he said. “It takes three outs to finish the game. There's not somebody coming in behind you to bail you out. That's the only difference. But I'd rather have the ball in the ninth inning. I'd rather have it in my hand and be in control.” Green wants the ball in Yates’ hand, too. “If he's getting consistent work, I'm not leaning toward making any dramatic change right now,” Green said “I think he's going to continue to roll in that inning. He's going to throw well there.” 5 Padres notes: Asuaje and not Urias, Myers update and Holliday talk Jeff Sanders Luis Urias’ time is coming. Just not today. Instead of recalling their scalding hot prospect from Triple-A El Paso, the Padres on Thursday replaced the injured Christian Villanueva (finger) with infielder Carlos Asuaje for his fourth tour this year with the big league club. Discussions about when to recall the 21-year-old Urias – before September call-ups, the day rosters expand or after the Pacific Coast League playoffs – are ongoing. “I’d assume in time we’ll see him,” Padres manager Andy Green said. “At this point in time we’re staying with Carlos Asuaje.” Asuaje is 2-for-19 in his latest stint with El Paso and hitting .199/.290/.285 with two homers and 19 RBIs in 75 games in his third year seeing big league time. Meanwhile, Urias – ranked No. 22 on MLB.com’s top-100 prospects list – is surging in August. He’s getting on base at a .482 clip in 20 games this month for the playoff-bound Chihuahuas (their magic number is 3), slugging .689 this month and hitting .294/.396/.445 for the season. His eight home runs are a career-high, two more than when he was the California League MVP in 2016. “I've talked with (El Paso manager Rod Barajas) regularly,” Green said. “They're really pleased with how he's playing. I think he's been really focused on their games there and he's playing well.