Bill Center, longtime sportswriter for U-T San Diego, is an employee of the Padres.
Tyson Ross appears to have snapped out of his midseason pitching slump, while Clayton Richard is 0-3 over his past five starts.
Over his past two starts, Ross has allowed four runs on eight hits and six walks with 10 strikeouts over 11 1/3 innings sandwiching the All-Star break. That is a 3.18 ERA with a 1.24 WHIP.
In two starts prior to that, Ross gave up up 15 runs on 14 hits and five walks with just two strikeouts, as his ERA shot up a full run from 3.32 to 4.32. His season-low two-inning outing on July 7 ended a run of 12 straight starts of five-plus innings by Ross, a stretch that included seven quality starts.
Ross had lost five straight decisions before he earned the win in the Padres' 10-2 triumph over the Phillies in the opening game of Sunday's doubleheader.
Richard is 0-3 (and the Padres are 1-4) in his past five starts. Since June 27, Richard has given up 22 runs on 31 hits and 16 walks with 15 strikeouts in 27 innings -- good for an ERA of 7.33 with a 1.74 WHIP. His three-inning outing on Friday in Philadelphia was his shortest of the season and ended a run of 13 straight starts of five or more innings.

Notebook
• RHP Kirby Yates made quick work of the Mets in Monday night's 3-2 win in his first outing as the Padres' closer. Yates needed only 19 pitches to strike out two in an inning that started with an Eric Hosmer error, picking up his third save of the season and his first since June 9. Yates lowered his ERA to 1.40. Seventeen of his past 18 outings have been scoreless. Over his past five outings, Yates has allowed no runs on a hit and no walks with eight strikeouts in 4 1/3 innings. His split-finger fastball plays very well in a closing role.

• 2B Jose Pirela has been named the Padres' winner of the 2018 Heart and Hustle Award presented by the Major League Baseball Players Alumni Association. The award honors players who demonstrate a passion for playing baseball.
• CF Manuel Margot is 6-for-16 with two doubles, a triple, an RBI and four runs scored during his five-game hitting streak around the two games he missed with a sore wrist. He has also drawn four walks with two stolen bases during the streak, giving him a line of .375/.500/.625.

• LF William Myers is 5-for-14 with two doubles, a home run, three RBIs and three runs scored to start this road trip to Philadelphia and New York. Seven of the nine outs he made were by strikeout, and he has 13 strikeouts in his past 27 at-bats. Myers also has seven homers in his past 12 games.