Our Padres look to follow up a marvelous come-from-behind victory last night with another win tonight to lock up the series at Petco Park. After working themselves into a four-run deficit, they were able to fight back thanks to some powerful hitting by Seth Smith and some timely offense in the late innings, leading to a magical walkoff and the Friars' third straight win.
For the second of the three-game set, San Diego will give the ball to Tyson Ross, who's coming off a rough road outing. He gave up five runs on seven hits through 5 2/3 innings of work while walking a season-high seven batters. One start prior he kept the Phillies scoreless through seven innings, issuing only one walk and striking out seven. But the 6-6 pitcher is still winless in June, which he'll try to change tonight.
Ross lost his first start against the Dodgers this season. In his 2014 debut he surrendered four runs (three earned) on five hits and four walks, but struck out seven batters in his five innings of work. Before this season, he had two career starts against the Dodgers, through which he posted a 1.86 ERA.
L.A. was on the verge of a season-high four-game winning streak when they came to Petco Park on Friday, but San Diego was able to keep them from achieving that. Tonight our Padres go for a fourth consecutive win as well, a feat that hasn't been accomplished since the beginning of May.
But Josh Beckett will try to spoil that and hand San Diego their first loss of the homestand tonight. The righty hasn't faced the Padres in over a year, but has a 5-2 record and 2.41 ERA through eight career appearances against them. Beckett posted a 1.38 ERA over four starts before giving up four runs (three earned) in seven innings against the Diamondbacks last Sunday. He issued no walks and struck out six batters in that outing, however.
See if our Padres can go a perfect 4-for-4 to start this homestand and notch another win for Gwynn. Game time is set for 7:10 PDT tonight.