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Padres Press Clips

Saturday, September 23, 2017

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Lyles starts strong, serves up three home runs in loss UT San Diego Lin 2

Successful as a rookie, Manuel Margot wants to be a 'superstar' UT San Diego Lin 4

First pitch: Bud Black in a familiar place UT San Diego Sanders 6

Talking with ... Padres pitcher Travis Wood UT San Diego Sanders 8

Chacin looks to stay red-hot at home vs. Rox MLB.com Ruiz 10

Margot's game just beginning to awaken MLB.com Ruiz 12

Offense sputters vs. Gray, Rockies MLB.com Ruiz/Harding 14

Yates perfect bridge from Richard to Hand Padres.com Center 17

Arenado powers Rockies to slump-ending win over Padres Associated Press AP 19

This Day in Padres History, 9/23 FriarWire Center 21

Ron Fowler is the Anti-Spanos NBC San Diego Togerson 22

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Lyles starts strong, serves up three home runs in loss Dennis Lin

Jordan Lyles was perfect through four innings Friday at Petco Park. Considering it was his fourth start of the season, and given how the first three had gone, it was an unexpected development.

An untimely interruption would mar a mostly positive appearance for the Padres right-hander. Nolan Arenado clubbed a deep drive leading off the fifth, and the Colorado Rockies homered twice more in a 4-1 loss for San Diego.

Lyles completed six innings in a major league game for the first time since April 18, 2016, when he went seven for the same team he faced Friday.

He was punished for a trio of elevated pitches. Each home run did not clear the fence by much.

According to Statcast technology, Arenado’s traveled 378 feet to right, where Travis Jankowski’s leaping attempt was curtailed by the wall. A Rockies scoreless streak ended after 23 innings.

Three batters later, Ian Desmond drilled another opposite-field shot, this one hurtling 353 feet to Petco Park’s short porch.

In the top of the seventh, Trevor Story sent a 359-foot drive off the lowest deck of the Western Metal building.

“A lot of hitters in that lineup are going to make you pay more often than not on mistakes,” Lyles said, “and they made me pay on three mistakes tonight.”

Lyles, who had been relegated to the bullpen in Colorado, then released on Aug. 1, allowed two hits that didn’t leave the yard. He walked two batters and struck out seven. Despite the lackluster line — he was tagged with four runs — it represented a substantial improvement from six days earlier, when he surrendered seven scores facing the same offense at Coors Field.

“We worked on a couple things our last side session,” Lyles said. “Just a little bit of a hip turn, trying to get after it a little bit more. Getting a little more athletic and trying to bring some more velocity to it. My last start in Colorado, my velocity just dipped really severely.”

Said manager Andy Green: “I thought he was efficient, he was in the strike zone, he was mixing well. I thought it was a big step in the right direction for him today. It’s unfortunate the way the game played out, squaring off against (Rockies pitcher) Jon Gray in consecutive games.”

Lyles ultimately could not match Gray, though he was one of the few Padres to nick Colorado’s talented young starter.

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In the bottom of the fifth, Jankowski collected a two-out single. For the outfielder, it was his first major league hit since April, when he sustained a fractured foot. Jankowski proceeded to steal second. Lyles scored him with a single up the middle, making it 2-1.

The deficit grew again in the seventh. Lyles yielded a single after Story’s homer, and Green called on his bullpen. Rookie Phil Maton allowed the inherited runner to score.

Lyles lowered his ERA with the Padres to 7.91 through four starts.

Jankowski, who was promoted from Triple-A on Monday, singled again in the bottom of the seventh, sealing his second multi-hit game of the big-league season. He became the sixth baserunner stranded by the Padres.

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Successful as a rookie, Manuel Margot wants to be a 'superstar' Dennis Lin

Manuel Margot and his wife, Rachell, welcomed their first child a little more than two months ago. Within the next decade, Diamond Margot could be forming lasting memories from inside a major league clubhouse. His father will turn 23 on Thursday, just before the conclusion of his rookie season.

“That’s why I want to be a superstar,” the Padres center fielder, speaking through an interpreter, said before Friday’s game against Colorado. “I want to set a good example for my son. I think if you have someone to follow like that and someone to look up to, then they have something that they want to aspire to be. So if I’m a superstar, it’s going to give him motivation to do the same.”

Margot, by all accounts, has made a strong first impression. In spite of his youth and a month lost to a calf strain, the Padres’ leadoff hitter entered Friday batting .272 with 13 home runs and 17 steals. His value at the plate and on the basepaths has been complemented by elite defense.

While the rest of the roster contains few assurances, observers do not have to squint to see future, everyday impact. According to Baseball-Reference.com, Margot is the Padres’ first under-23 position player with three or more Wins Above Replacement since Roberto Alomar in 1990.

“He plays hard every day, but never out of control,” one rival scout said. “Outside of (Hunter) Renfroe and (Wil) Myers, he might have the most raw power on the team, so I expect more home runs to come in the future. If it happens, you're looking at a George Springer/Rickey Henderson-type leadoff guy with plus defense in center field.”

The areas for marked improvement are limited, if obvious. Through Thursday, Margot was getting on base at a .323 clip. An uptick, manager Andy Green noted, would have a dual benefit.

“He’s a guy who easily could be in the 40-, 50-stolen-base category,” Green said. “…When (the on-base percentage) gets up over .340, he’s going to have a lot more opportunities to steal bases.”

Margot has shown tantalizing glimpses in both departments, including over his previous three games, when he reached base nine times and swiped three bags.

His overall production has wavered little since the beginning of the season. Margot has yet to endure a hitless streak longer than three games.

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“I think Manny’s done some really good things and his consistency’s been right at the top of the list,” Green said. “I think his ceiling is higher. He can play better than he has, and when we sat and talked at length the other day that’s kind of the reoccurring theme that comes out of him: ‘I can be better, I need to work harder, I can do this, I can do that.’ You love to have a guy that had a very solid rookie campaign look back at himself on the year and go, ‘I’m better than that,’ and continue to work toward that.”

The Padres certainly would like to see Margot take significant steps in the next few years. The Rockies and Arizona Diamondbacks possess striking amounts of position-player talent. The Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego’s most formidable division opponent, feature Corey Seager and Cody Bellinger in an enviably deep lineup.

Seager, already a two-time All-Star, is several months older than Margot. Bellinger, nearing 40 home runs as a rookie, turned 22 in July.

Margot does not plan on being far behind.

“The faster you reach your goal, the better it is,” he said. “If I’m acquiring a lot of experience now, then it’s going to make me a better baseball player in the long run. If I’m getting all of this now in the short term, as a young player, then it’s only going to help me grow over the course of my career.”

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First pitch: Bud Black in a familiar place Jeff Sanders

Bud Black has, more or less, been here before.

At Petco Park. Clinging to a playoff spot. Streaking in the wrong direction in

The 2017 Rockies are a different team than his 2007 and 2010 Padres but there are lessons he’s put in his back pocket as he steers his new team toward a wild-card spot.

Some are practical. Like go to the bullpen a bit quicker or use the running game to wake up a stagnant offense.

Some are all about what’s going on in between the ears.

“I think every team is different as far as how you handle players,” said Black, whose Rockies had lost four in a row and had seen their grip on the NL’s second wild card dwindle to a single game. “But in general I think there can be a tendency for players in this situation – all teams, all players – to try to do too much. You’ve got to do the best you can from the coaching position to try to alleviate that aspect of the game, to try to get them to play as loose and normal as possible. I think that’s something as coaches we’re trying to do and I’m trying to do.”

He added: “This is a game. It’s best played relaxed.”

That point was driven home as Black, a rookie in Kansas City in 1982, watched the likes of George Brett and Willie Wilson approach a tight AL West race largely the same as the rest of the season. Looking back on the Padres’ 2010 finish in particular, Black recalled a handful of his players were tighter than usual as a 10-game losing streak cut a 6½-game lead on the Giants down to one.

“(Everth) Cabrera tried awfully hard,” Black said. “Nick Hundley was a hard try-er – maybe too much.”

Black ran through a number of names as he continued the trip down memory lane. Bad knees for Eckstein and Hairston. Miguel Tejada was aging. Adrian Gonzalez was fine, but Chase Headley was young. Yorvit Torrealba was great for chemistry.

The end result – losing to the Giants to lose the NL West crown on the last day of the season – doesn’t change how Black feels about a team that came out of nowhere to contend.

“That was a magical year, man,” he said. “That team won 90 games. That was one of my funnest years. It was a bummer that we lost. To do it with that group, that was great.

“It wasn’t a collection of All-Stars. They played as a team and they played hard. They played the right way.”

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Facebook Live Facebook is broadcasting its second Padres game, this time taking the Fox San Diego broadcast for the feed. It is one of 20 games that the social media giant is streaming live this season.

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ON DECK | Rockies (82-71) at Padres (69-84) Game 2: 7:10 p.m. Friday

Rockies RHP Jon Gray (8-4, 3.75 ERA)

• He struck out seven over five shutout innings in a no-decision Sunday against the Padres. Gray has allowed three or fewer earned runs in 11 straight starts.

Padres RHP Jordan Lyles (1-3, 7.35 ERA)

• The former Rockies hurler was knocked around by his former club Saturday in Denver, allowing seven runs on eight hits and three walks in four innings. Lyles has an 8.78 ERA in three starts for San Diego.

Up next

• Saturday: Rockies RHP Chad Bettis (1-3, 6.23) vs. Padres RHP Jhoulys Chacin (12-10, 4.12), 5:40 p.m.

• Sunday: Rockies RHP German Marquez (10-7, 4.41) vs. Padres RHP Luis Perdomo (8-10, 4.57), 1:40 p.m.

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Talking with ... Padres pitcher Travis Wood Jeff Sanders

Travis Wood’s 11 regular season home runs rank third among active pitchers behind the Giants’ Madison Bumgarner (17) and the Mariners’ Yovani Gallardo (12). A second-round pick out of high school in 2005, the 30-year-old Wood has always viewed his job at the plate as another way to help him on the mound.

Union-Tribune: You’ve long been one of the better hitting pitchers in the game. Why would you say there aren’t more pitchers who develop the same knack for hitting?

Wood: I think it’s because, for the most part – there are some two-way guys in college, but most of the time you’re just a pitcher. You don’t hit a lot in college. High school guys get drafted and you don’t hit until Double-A. So you have, depending on how long it takes you to get there, two to four years before you pick up a bat again. Sometimes it leaves some guys. It’s something that once it leaves you, you have to work to get it back. Some people either don’t have the time or it’s not there anymore. It’s something I take pride in and something being in the National League that you have to do. So why not be as good as you can and try to help yourself anyway you can?

U-T: You were one of those high school guys. Did you have to do anything to get it back?

Wood: I just took a lot of swings. In Double-A, I would get there early before everybody to hit with the hitting coach in the cage. Almost every day. Just little things like that, going the extra step to really lock it in.

U-T: We see you in the pitcher’s group every day. Do you do anything more now than other pitchers do?

Wood: Not really. It’s tough now because everybody gets here early. You’ve got a lot of hitters in there hitting early. You have to get here really early if you wanted any alone time in the cage. Or pull somebody aside. But we do get our work in out here. It’s one of those things that I’m just able to do. I can’t really explain it.

U-T: Just always been natural?

Wood: For me it has. I’ve always been able to hit coming up.

U-T: Take us through the biggest hit of your career.

Wood: It’s definitely the postseason home run I hit last year against the Giants. It was unbelievable. I normally don’t get all excited. I kind of lost it there for a little while.

U-T: Did you get that ball back? What did it cost you?

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Wood: I did. I got it back. All the guy wanted to do was come down here and meet me. I took a picture with him after the game. That was it.

U-T: It looked like your stuff ticked back up in your last start.

Wood: Yeah, I ran into a rough patch for a couple starts. I wasn’t attacking the zone. I was missing and they were really capitalizing on mistakes. (On Tuesday), I felt like I got back in the zone and I was attacking. I made a couple of mistakes but for the most part limited them.

U-T: Did you feel like you had more life on your fastball?

Wood: Maybe. We’ve been doing some work in the bullpen and playing catch and stuff. The swings looked like I did. Hopefully it’s coming back.

U-T: When you went through that rough patch, one thing Andy Green said was you’re not a guy who can beat guys in the zone if you’re not hitting your spots. Agree?

Wood: Yes and no. I know what he’s saying is because most everybody now throws 95-plus. I don’t understand it, but I’m not one of those guys. I have to be able to locate and when I’m not locating it makes it that much tougher on me. It helps me (to hear the manager say something like that) because it gets me back to hitting my corners. That’s when I’m at my best and that’s what he meant by that. Really bear down, concentrate and focus on making your pitches because when you’re missing they’re capitalizing.

U-T: You signed a deal to play in Kansas City through potentially the 2019 season. Away from the field, does the trade change anything for you or your family?

Wood: I mean, we didn’t move. I always go back home to Arkansas. But we got an apartment in Kansas City and we ended up having to get out of that. That’s just part of the game.

U-T: What do you want to accomplish in your last start?

Wood: Just build off the last one. Finish strong and take that into the offseason knowing that we’ve ironed things out and we’re locked in.

U-T: How much will it mean to arrive in spring training with a defined role in the rotation?

Wood: It will be nice. Especially starting off next year, it will allow you to focus on one thing and get in your regular bullpen sessions and tweak things. It allows you to really work on things. It’s hard in a 30- or 40-pitch bullpen to really work on pitches when you might have to throw that night.

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Chacin looks to stay red-hot at home vs. Rox By Nathan Ruiz / MLB.com | 35 minutes ago

Facing his former club, Padres right-hander Jhoulys Chacin makes his final start at Petco Park on

Saturday when San Diego takes on the Rockies.

Colorado sends right-hander Chad Bettis to the mound to oppose Chacin, who played for the

Rockies from 2009-15.

Colorado holds a 1 1/2-game lead over the Cardinals, who beat the Pirates, 4-3, on Friday. St. Louis

leapfrogged the Brewers, who lost to the Cubs, 5-4, and dropped to two games behind the Rockies.

In his first season with the Padres, Chacin has a 1.91 ERA at home that is tops in the National

League and second only to Indians right-hander Corey Kluber's 1.81 ERA at home. Chacin's

previous start was his first at Coors Field as a visitor. In a rain-shortened outing, he allowed three

runs in 4 1/3 innings.

Bettis should be fresh. He threw only 34 pitches in his previous start, allowing five runs to Arizona

while getting just one out.

"Chad, for whatever reason, in that game against the D-backs, looked to be trying to be too fine,"

Colorado manager Bud Black said . "Hopefully, a little bit of extended rest here can freshen the

fastball a little bit and freshen his command."

Things to know about this game

• Black said Bettis' results against Arizona were the result of some mechanical issues, including

prematurely opening his front shoulder which caused his arm slot to be off.

• When behind in the count, Chacin turns to his slider. Since the All-Star break, he's thrown it 38.5

percent of the time when he's been behind in the count. It's proven successful, as he's allowed a

batting average of only .184 when behind in the second half.

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• Bettis has struggled against middle-of-the-order bats this year, allowing a .380 average to 3-4-5

hitters. The 3-4-5 hitters the Padres used on Friday -- Wil Myers, Yangervis Solarte and Cory

Spangenberg -- are a combined 11-for-28 against Bettis, including a home run by Myers.

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Margot's game just beginning to awaken Talented rookie has made a nice impression this season

By Nathan Ruiz / MLB.com | 1:55 AM ET

SAN DIEGO -- For the better part of the past two months, Padres outfielder Manuel Margothas

arrived at Petco Park tired.

With his 2-month-old son, Diamond, at home, Margot found little time for rest after games. In the

two nights since Diamond and his mother returned to the Dominican Republic on Wednesday,

Margot has gotten "the best sleep ever." The thrill of fatherhood, though, isn't lost on him.

"It's the best thing that's happened to me," Margot said Friday through a team interpreter. "I think

when you have a little creature like that, another small person like that, so innocent, it really puts

things in perspective. It's really amazing."

Like Diamond, Margot's career is in its infancy. Margot, who turns 23 on Thursday, declared last

month he aspires to be a superstar. His prime will come when Diamond can witness and

understand it.

"That's why I want to be a superstar," Margot said. "I want to set a good example for my son. I think

if you have someone to follow like that and someone to look up to, then they have something that

they want to aspire to be. So if I'm a superstar, it's going to give him motivation to do the same."

Even with the lack of sleep, Margot hasn't slowed. He's hitting .288/.344/.486 since his son was

born, slugging eight of his 13 home runs in the past two months. In Friday's 4-1 loss to the

Rockies, Margot hit his seventh triple, making him the 10th Major League player to reach that total

this year.

Nearing the end of his first full season in the Majors, Margot entered the game against the Rockies

with a stolen base in three consecutive games, a streak that ended Friday. He leads all National

League rookies with 17 steals. As a father, Margot is 7-for-7 as a base stealer.

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Manager Andy Green said Margot could develop into a 50-steal player, yet there are tweaks to be

made. It begins with Margot's on-base percentage, which Green said he hopes to see jump about 20

points next season.

There's also the matter of, as Margot put it, "the learning process" of stealing bases.

"His ability to utilize advance information is still in its primitive form," Green said. "There's stuff he

can use to be elite. Right now, he's still scratching the surface.

"It's fun to dream on that and think about what it looks like when it's fully formed."

Given his age, Margot has plenty of time to develop, but in conversations with Green, he has

consistently expressed his desire to improve, telling his manager, "I could be better."

As Margot has begun to prove on the bases, it's not in his personality to wait around.

"The faster you reach your goal, the better it is," Margot said. "In this game, again, if I'm acquiring a

lot of experience now, then it's going to make me a better baseball player in the long run."

Worth noting

• Green said he would consider using left-hander Clayton Richard, who is 7 2/3 innings from his

first 200-inning season since 2012, for an inning of relief in the season finale against the Giants

should he finish his start Wednesday against the Dodgers at 199 innings.

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Offense sputters vs. Gray, Rockies By Nathan Ruiz and Thomas Harding / MLB.com | 2:11 AM ET

SAN DIEGO -- Twenty-three innings is a long time for a team in playoff position to go without a run.

As Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenado put it, "It felt like two months."

Arenado's fifth-inning leadoff homer, plus solo shots by Ian Desmond and Trevor Story not only

helped the Rockies score again, but helped them end a four-game losing skid with a 4-1 win over

the Padres at Petco Park on Friday night.

Righty Jon Gray held the Padres to one run and five hits while fanning eight in six innings as the

Rockies improved their handle on the second National League Wild Card spot.

Colorado holds a 1 1/2-game lead over the Cardinals, who beat the Pirates, 4-3, on Friday. St. Louis

leapfrogged the Brewers, who lost to the Cubs, 5-4, and dropped to two games behind the Rockies.

Arenado's 35th homer of the season went the opposite way to right field against Padres

starter Jordan Lyles, who was with the Rockies through late July before being released. Arenado,

just 3-for-15 the previous four games, showed up at Petco Park five hours before the game to work

on staying tall and powerful through his swing. It paid off.

"It's not something that I've mastered, obviously," Arenado said. "But it's good that it showed up."

Desmond's homer, also the opposite way, was his sixth in a season severely limited by left hand and

right calf injuries, and it ended a 141 at-bat homerless streak. Story, who opened the seventh

against Lyles with his 22nd homer, showed up for early hitting with Arenado (and Pat Valaika).

Lyles pitched four perfect frames before Arenado's homer. He completed six innings for the first

time since April 3, 2016, his third-to-last start before Colorado moved him to the bullpen.

"A lot of hitters in that lineup are going to make you pay more often than not on mistakes, and they

made me pay on three mistakes tonight," Lyles said. "... The few mistakes I made tonight, they put it

in the seats. That doesn't always happen, but they're one of the better offenses in baseball."

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Lyles, however, gave Gray his only blemish with a fifth-inning, two-out RBI single. But Gray has not

given up more than three runs in a game in 12 starts. Greg Holland pitched the ninth for his 41st

save, which tied Jose Jimenez (2002) for the club single-season record.

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED

Quick thinking: After the Rockies' homers, Erick Aybar singled to open the Padres' fifth. Gray

struck out Austin Hedges, and Aybar tried to take second when the ball bounced in front of

catcher Jonathan Lucroy. However, Lucroy's throw beat Aybar. The Padres would score their first

run later in the frame, so Lucroy's play kept the inning from mushrooming.

Neshek's escape: The Rockies led, 4-1, in the seventh but a Hedges double and a Travis

Jankowski single, both off Chris Rusin, put runners at the corners with one out. Righty Pat

Neshek, however, retired pinch-hitter Carlos Villanueva on a foul ball -- one Arenado had to go

deep into left-field foul ground to catch -- and then fanned Manuel Margot.

"That was huge [after] a couple soft hits off Rusin," Rockies manager Bud Black said.

QUOTABLE

"Wins like this feel like you've won five in a row. It's that big." -- Arenado on ending the losing streak

to bring a little relief in a tight race

"You look at the last two months he's thrown, we're not the only team that's had a hard time hitting

him. He's thrown the ball very well for them." -- Padres manager Andy Green on Gray

SOUND SMART WITH YOUR FRIENDS

Gray's streak of 12 consecutive starts allowing three or fewer earned runs is tied with Ubaldo

Jimenez for the second-longest single-season streak in Rockies history. Jimenez holds the record

with 14 to begin the 2010 season.

WHAT'S NEXT

Rockies: Right-hander Chad Bettis (1-3, 6.23 ERA), held out of competition since giving up five

runs in one-third of an inning at Arizona in a Sept. 14 loss, returns to the rotation Saturday against

the Padres at Petco Park at 6:40 p.m. MT.

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Padres: Right-hander Jhoulys Chacin, with a National League-leading 1.91 ERA at home, faces the

Rockies at 5:40 p.m. PT. The former Rockie will make his second-straight start against Colorado, the

previous one being his first start at Coors Field as a visitor.

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Yates perfect bridge from Richard to Hand Battle with LeMahieu the best part of Padres' 3-0 win

By Bill Center / San Diego Padres | September 22nd, 2017

Clayton Richard had a memorable start and Brad Hand tied a couple marks while picking up the

save Thursday night in the Padres 3-0 victory over the Colorado Rockies at Petco Park.

But the single at-bat I'll remember most was Kirby Yates 12-pitch battle with DJ LeMahieuin the

eighth inning.

Yates had just entered the game in relief of Richard with two on and one out with LeMahieu coming

to the plate representing the tying run.

Yates and LeMahieu had squared off four previous times and the Rockies' second baseman was 0-

for-4 with three strikeouts against Yates.

But this time, LeMahieu jumped ahead in the count as Yates missed the strike zone with his first two

pitches. The Padre battled back. Then LeMahieu fouled off six two-strike pitches.

On the 12th pitch, Yates got LeMahieu to miss on a four-seam fastball. He then retired National

League RBI leader Nolan Arenado to finish his work as the perfect bridge from Richards to Hand.

Now, about Richard and Hand.

Richard, who received a two-year extension Wednesday, allowed seven hits and a walk in 7 1/3

scoreless innings Thursday night. With the help of three double plays - he leads the National League

with 32 induced -- Richard had 12 ground-ball outs, eight strikeouts and two flyouts.

Richard has worked shutout ball in two of his last three outings and three of the last seven dating

back to his complete-game, three-hit shutout of Philadelphia on August 16. Over his last three

starts, Richard has allowed four runs on 19 hits and five walks with 16 strikeouts in 19 1/3 innings

-- an earned run average of 1.86.

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Hand then struck out the side in the ninth for his 20th save of the season.

The three strikeouts gave Hand 100 strikeouts for the season, making him only the second reliever

in Padres history - Trevor Hoffman was the first (1996-97) - to have 100 or more strikeouts in

back-to-back seasons.

The save was also Hand's 20th of the season, tying him for the season lead with since-

traded Brandon Maurer. Hand has done it in 21 opportunities with all but two of the saves coming

since July 23. Maurer had three blown saves.

NOTE WORTHY

• 3B Christian Villanueva is 4-for-12 with home runs in his last two games with the Padres. During

the season with Triple-A El Paso, the corner infielder was the Chihuahuas' steadiest player, batting

.296 with 20 homers and 86 RBIs. Villanueva was once the top third base prospect in the Cubs'

system until Kris Bryant came along.

• CF Manuel Margot is 7-for-14 with three walks, two doubles, three stolen bases and three runs

scored in a four-game hitting streak.

• 1B Wil Myers has drawn seven walks in his last five games while going 3-for-12 with two doubles.

That is a .526 on-base percentage.

• RF Hunter Renfroe is 4-for-14 with four homers and eight RBIs in his four starts since returning

from Triple-A El Paso.

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Arenado powers Rockies to slump-ending win over Padres Associated Press

SAN DIEGO -- Nolan Arenado trotted out his home run and looked up as he crossed home plate. With one swing from their cleanup man, the Colorado Rockies buried a long scoreless streak Friday night, then went on to a 4-1 victory over the San Diego Padres. Ian Desmond and Trevor Story also homered for Colorado, which had dropped consecutive shutouts and was sputtering again before Arenado's leadoff homer, his 35th, ended a 23-inning drought in the fifth.

"That's Nolan," Story said. "He does big things in big spots."

Jon Gray (9-4) pitched six innings to win his fourth straight road start, and Colorado ended a four-game losing streak. The Rockies stayed 1 1/2 games ahead of the St. Louis Cardinals in the race for the National League's second wild card. The Milwaukee Brewers are two games back. Greg Holland picked up his 41st save, tying Jose Jimenez's club record set in 2002. Gray said he figured the team's offense was too good to struggle so badly for much longer.

"So," he said, "I knew we were going to get out of it. They hit the ball hard tonight, made some good plays on defense. We're headed in the right direction."

The Rockies had no baserunners against former teammate Jordan Lyles (1-4) before Arenado hit the second pitch of the fifth over the right-field wall.

"I knew from then on -- that was going to break the ice, our offense was going to be in a different gear," Story said.

Two outs later, Desmond followed with his sixth homer, also an opposite-field drive.

Story led off the seventh with his 22nd homer, offsetting Lyles' run-scoring single in the fifth. Story also made a diving stab at shortstop to bolster Gray.

The lead grew to 4-1 when a single from Jonathan Lucroy scored Desmond in the seventh. Gray maintained his recent form, allowing fewer than four runs for the 12th consecutive start.

"I feel more comfortable every time out," he said.

Gray struck out eight and walked one, lowering his ERA to 3.62. He has a 1.44 ERA over his past four outings away from Denver.

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"When he was attacking, he was dominant," Padres manager Andy Green said. "We just didn't do much against him."

Green called it a "step forward" for Lyles, who struck out five while facing the minimum 12 batters through four innings.

It was the second time Lyles faced Colorado since the Rockies designated him for assignment July 29.

NESHEK DELIVERS

Side-arm reliever Pat Neshek stranded two baserunners to preserve a 4-1 lead in the seventh. MARGOT COUNTERPUNCHES

After Gray's 96-mph pitch near the head drove him to the dirt, Padres rookie Manuel Margot rifled a triple, his team-high seventh, later in the at-bat.

LIKING SAN DIEGO

Desmond's homer was his fourth this season at San Diego, one short of Arenado's single-season club record at the downtown ballpark.

UP NEXT

Rockies: RHP Chad Bettis (1-3, 6.23) will make his first start Saturday since getting only one out -- the shortest start of his career -- Sept. 14 against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Bettis, who allowed five runs, was given extra time between starts this week to work on sharpening his pitches. Padres: RHP Jhoulys Chacin (12-10, 4.12). He will take a 3.18 ERA over his past 18 starts into the start against Colorado, his team from 2009-14. He is 0-1 with a 5.23 ERA against the Rockies in two career starts, both this season.

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This Day in Padres History, 9/23

1987: Ready, Kruk hit back-to-back, 13th-inning

homers to defeat Reds

By Bill Center

Sept. 23, 1973 — First baseman Nate Colbert is 2-for-4 with two homers, a walk, three runs scored and four RBIs as the Padres defeat the Giants 11–9 in San Francisco.

Sept. 23, 1983 — Center fielder Ruppert Jones is 2-for-5 with a double, a homer and five RBIs and right fielder Tony Gwynn is 2-for-3 with a homer, two walks, three runs scored and three RBIs as the Padres defeat the Reds 11–8 in Cincinnati.

Sept. 23, 1987 — Randy Ready and John Kruk hit back-to-back homers in the top of the 13th to power the Padres to a 6–4 win over the Reds in Cincinnati.

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Ron Fowler is the Anti-Spanos Padres Executive Chairman is giving San Diego sports fans a ray of hope

By Derek Togerson

Padres Executive Chairman Ron Fowler has been a very visible, at times vocal, professional franchise owner who values being a member of the San Diego community. He’s also the kind of guy who sees a problem and then finds a way to try and fix it. Basically he’s the very opposite of Dean Spanos, who expects everyone to come in and take care of everything for him then still finds a way to make a mess of just about any conceivable situation. But it’s become clear that Fowler wields more power in baseball circles than most people know, and that is a very good thing for the San Diego Padres. “I think the labor relations department on the 34th floor has an office with Ron’s name on it,” said MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred on his recent visit to Petco Park. That is only a slight exaggeration. “We have probably one of the deepest, strongest relationships in baseball between the Commissioner’s office and the Padres management group,” said Manfred. “Very close, personal relationships as well as professional relationships.” Fowler is extremely well-respected in baseball circles. In fact he might even be partially responsible for putting his “small-market” Padres in a better financial position against the Dodgers, Yankees and baseball’s other big spenders. “We have tried to deal with payroll disparity by limiting, through the use of taxes, the very highest payroll clubs,” said Manfred. One of the men who did that is Fowler, who was the head of the Labor Policy Committee that helped hammer out a new Collective Bargaining Agreement during the off-season. Part of the new CBA altered the Competitive Balance Tax (CBT), levying hefty fines on teams that spend freely. For example (and this is a lot of numbers but it’ll make sense in a second) the threshold in 2018 will be $197 million. The base CBT will be 20% on whatever amount they go above $197 million IF it’s their first time exceeding the threshold. If it’s their 2nd time they’re taxed 30% and 3rd time offenders pay 50%. And now there are additional surtaxes of 12% for going $20 million over the limit and 42.5% for $40 million in excesses. Using the Dodgers (who have already exceeded the threshold in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017) as an example, if they kept this year’s Opening Day payroll of $242 million payroll in 2018 they would have to pay $42.75 million JUST IN TAXES for the year. Even for the free-spending guys at Dodger Stadium that seems to be a little bit steep. “For the first time in the 25 years since I’ve been in baseball everybody in the top quartile of clubs had payrolls that actually went down this year due to the increased penalties that were negotiated as part of this Collective Bargaining Agreement,” said Manfred.

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Fowler is a huge reason why that happened. His Padres (and the Royals and Twins and Rays and several other clubs) will never be able to spend on the same level as the Dodgers or Yankees or Red Sox. MLB could have had a representative from any of the smaller market clubs take the lead in the negotiations. But they chose Ron Fowler, who by most accounts is the one most responsible for the league and the MLB Players Association striking a deal that will last through 2021. See what I mean about Fowler being the Anti-Spanos? Could you imagine what would happen if the NFL put Deano in charge of negotiating a new CBA? It would be like putting Ryan Lochte in charge of NASA. Now I understand the team is in a rebuild and the big league product is not great right now. But when you look at the money that's been spent on the International market and all the young stars that the team has in the minor league system there is, finally, hope that the Padres can contend more than just once or twice every decade, a peak that's followed by nine years of futility. Part of the so-called “San Diego sports curse” is the fact we have been saddled with awful owners over the years. From the Spanos clan to Donald Sterling to Jeff Moorad we have had the wrong people in charge almost constantly. If there is a curse I’m thinking that Fowler (with the Seidler and O’Malley families with him) is the one to finally break it. His recent track record shows he’s very good at his job. Shoot, after all the bozos that have come through this town we’d have settled for someone just being competent.