MEXICO CITY (AP) — Ildemaro Vargas extended his hitting streak with a home run and four RBI’s, Tim Tawa hit a grand-slam in six-run seventh inning and the Arizona Diamondbacks rallied on Sunday to defeat the San Diego Padres 12-7 to split the two-game series played in Mexico City.
In the seventh inning and down 7-2, Tawa’s shot to the left field sent home José Fernández, Nolan Arenado and Alek Thomas while Lourdes Gourriel Jr hit a two-run double for the winning run.
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Fans pose with a promotional billboard ahead of the San Diego Padres baseball game against Arizona Diamondbacks in Mexico City, Sunday, April 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
Players of the San Diego Padres stand at the dugout during the eighth inning of a baseball game against the Arizona Diamondbacks in Mexico City, Sunday, April 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
Arizona Diamondbacks' Tim Tawa hits a grand slam against the San Diego Padres during the seventh inning of a baseball game in Mexico City, Sunday, April 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
Arizona Diamondbacks' Ildemaro Vargas celebrates after hitting a home run against the San Diego Padres during the sixth inning of a baseball game in Mexico City, Sunday, April 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
Arizona Diamondbacks' Ildemaro Vargas celebrates after hitting a home run against the San Diego Padres during the sixth inning of a baseball game in Mexico City, Sunday, April 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
Vargas, who went 3-for-5 in the game, hit his solo homer in the sixth inning against Michael King to extend his hitting streak to 24 games. Vargas’s streak is tied with four others for the longest in the Majors since 2024 behind Bryan Reynolds’ 25-gamer from June 1-29, 2024.
Manny Machado blasted two homers for the Padres.
Ryan Thompson (2-0) pitched a scoreless seventh inning to get the win.
Bradgley Rodríguez (0-1) took the loss, allowing two runs in 2 2/3 innings.
The teams combined for six home runs on Sunday, short of the 11 that were hit in Mexico City when the Padres played San Francisco in 2023.
Mexico City is in the Valley of Mexico on a high central plateau at an elevation of 2,240 meters (7,350 feet) above sea level. The Alfredo Harp Helú Stadium, which hosts MLB Mexico City Series games, is higher than Coors Field in Denver (the highest stadium in MLB at about 5,200 feet).
The game was the last of a three-game series in Mexico City, but MLB's commissioner Rob Manfred said that there are plans to return.
“I can’t say enough good things about it. We’re excited about doing more and more in Mexico,” Manfred said before the game. “We’re going to develop an international play plan with the MLBPA as part of the collective bargaining process, and Mexico is going to be a big part of that”.
Padres RHP Randy Vázquez (2-0, 1.89) starts the first game of the series against the Cubs. The Diamondbacks will send Merril Kelly to the mound on Tuesday against the Brewers.
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Fans pose with a promotional billboard ahead of the San Diego Padres baseball game against Arizona Diamondbacks in Mexico City, Sunday, April 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
Players of the San Diego Padres stand at the dugout during the eighth inning of a baseball game against the Arizona Diamondbacks in Mexico City, Sunday, April 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
Arizona Diamondbacks' Tim Tawa hits a grand slam against the San Diego Padres during the seventh inning of a baseball game in Mexico City, Sunday, April 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
Arizona Diamondbacks' Ildemaro Vargas celebrates after hitting a home run against the San Diego Padres during the sixth inning of a baseball game in Mexico City, Sunday, April 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
Arizona Diamondbacks' Ildemaro Vargas celebrates after hitting a home run against the San Diego Padres during the sixth inning of a baseball game in Mexico City, Sunday, April 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
ISLAMABAD (AP) — Iran 's foreign minister briefly visited Islamabad again on Sunday as Pakistan's political and military leadership scrambled to reignite ceasefire negotiations between Tehran and Washington, but President Donald Trump said they could talk by phone instead.
Abbas Araghchi had left Pakistan’s capital late the previous day, creating confusion around an expected second round of talks there, but he returned before continuing on to Moscow on Sunday, Iranian state media said. He had been in Oman, which previously mediated talks and is on the other side of the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
The White House last week said it would dispatch envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to Islamabad to follow up on historic face-to-face talks earlier this month. But shortly after Araghchi's departure Saturday, Trump said he had called off the mission because of a lack of progress with Iran.
“If they want, we can talk but we’re not sending people," Trump told Fox News on Sunday. He said earlier on social media: “All they have to do is call!!!”
Indirect talks between the two sides were ongoing, two Pakistani officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
Trump last week indefinitely extended the ceasefire that U.S. and Iran agreed to on April 7 that has largely halted the fighting that began with joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on Feb. 28. But a permanent settlement remains elusive in the war that has killed thousands of people and shaken the global economy.
A standoff remained on in the Strait of Hormuz, a vital global waterway through which one-fifth of the world’s oil typically travels, as Iran has restricted movement through it and the U.S. enforces a blockade of Iranian ports.
Iran wants to persuade Oman to support a mechanism to collect tolls from vessels passing through the strait, through which a fifth of the world’s oil flows in peacetime, according to a regional official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter.
Oman’s response wasn’t immediately clear.
The official, who is involved in mediation efforts, also said Iran insists on ending the U.S. blockade before a new round of talks and that Pakistan-led mediators are trying to bridge significant gaps between the countries.
Araghchi also spoke by phone with counterparts in Qatar and Saudi Arabia on Sunday.
Even before Saturday’s developments, Iran’s foreign ministry said any talks would be indirect and Pakistani officials would act as go-betweens, reflecting Tehran's wariness after rounds of indirect talks last year and earlier this year ended with Iran being attacked by the U.S. and Israel.
The economic fallout is growing two months into the war as global shipments of oil, liquefied natural gas, fertilizer and other supplies are disrupted by the near-closure of the strategic strait.
Both sides have continued to make military threats. Iran’s joint military command on Saturday warned that “if the U.S. continues its aggressive military actions, including naval blockades, banditry, and piracy” it will face a “strong response.”
Trump last week ordered the military to “shoot and kill” small boats that could be placing mines in the waterway.
Trump told journalists on Saturday, before a security incident at the White House Correspondents' Dinner, that within 10 minutes of him canceling Witkoff and Kushner’s trip to Islamabad, Iran sent a “much better” proposal.
He did not elaborate but stressed that one of his conditions is that Iran “will not have a nuclear weapon.” The status of Iran's enriched uranium has long been at the center of tensions. Tehran has 440 kilograms (972 pounds) of uranium enriched to 60% purity, a short, technical step from weapons-grade levels, according to the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency.
Syed Mohammad Ali, an independent political analyst in Pakistan, said the delay in the talks must not be seen as a setback and that indirect talks were progressing. He said tensions between Washington and Tehran cannot be eased overnight and the negotiation process requires patience.
"But the good thing is that the ceasefire is holding, and both sides have a desire to end the conflict in a way that does not backfire at home,” Ali said.
Since the war began, at least 3,375 people have been killed in Iran and at least 2,509 people in Lebanon, where the Israel-Hezbollah fighting resumed two days after the Iran war started.
Also, 23 people have been killed in Israel and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states. Fifteen Israeli soldiers in Lebanon, 13 U.S. service members in the region and six U.N. peacekeepers in southern Lebanon have been killed.
Another ceasefire — between Israel and the Iranian-backed Lebanese militant Hezbollah group — has been extended by three weeks. Hezbollah has not participated in the Washington-brokered diplomacy.
Oil prices rose when the market opened Sunday as traders absorbed the news of the stalled ceasefire talks.
West Texas Intermediate, the U.S.-produced light, sweet crude, was selling for $96.50 a barrel Sunday, up 2% since the market closed on Friday. The price was 44% higher than before the start of the Iran war, when oil was selling for about $67 a barrel.
Brent crude, the international standard, was trading at $107.75 per barrel Sunday, up about 3% since Friday and 48% since the war began, when oil was selling for $72 a barrel.
Oil prices have risen steadily since the war began and tankers full of crude became stranded in Persian Gulf, unable to safely transit through the Strait of Hormuz.
Magdy reported from Cairo and Lidman from Jerusalem. Associated Press writers Will Weissert in Washington and Cathy Bussewitz in New York contributed to this report.
In this photo released by the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, right, shakes hands with Oman's Sultan Haitham bin Tariq during their meeting, in Muscat, Oman, Sunday, April 26, 2026. (Iranian Foreign Ministry via AP)
The wife and children of Fadi Al Zein, who lost both his homes in Israeli strikes in his village of Khiam and in Dahiyeh, sit on the balcony of their heavily damaged apartment building in Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, Saturday, April 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
In this photo released by the Pakistan Prime Minister Office, Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, fifth left, meets with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, center, in Islamabad, Pakistan, Saturday, April 25, 2026. (Pakistan Prime Minister Office via AP)
A woman walks past an anti-U.S. graffiti painted on the wall of the Tehran University on Enqelab-e-Eslami (Islamic Revolution) street in downtown Tehran, Iran, Saturday, April 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
In this photo released by the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, left, meets with Pakistan's Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir in Islamabad, Pakistan, Saturday, April 25, 2026. (Iranian Foreign Ministry via AP)
A woman holds an Iranian flag for a pro-government campaign in downtown Tehran, Iran, Saturday, April 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
