Diamondbacks 2, Padres 1: Ross Gets No Love From Offense

Tyson Ross pitched a great game tonight. In 7 innings, the Diamondbacks only touched him for a pair of runs on 5 hits and a walk while striking out 7 times. But once again, the Padres wasted a quality start with terrible hitting. They had their chances to even things up, but went 0 for 6 with men in scoring position.

Mistakes cost Ross in the top of the fourth. He started the inning with a walk to Paul Goldschmidt. Miguel Montero put him in scoring position with a single up the middle, and then both runners advanced on Tyson's wild pitch to Aaron Hill. Hill struck out, but the same can't be said for David Peralta, who hit a two-run single. Martin Prado grounded into a double play to end the inning, but the damage was already done.

The Padres got one of those runs back in the fifth, when a pair of back to back singles put Cameron Maybin and Alexi Amarista on base with nobody out. Even better, some deft baserunning had the pair sitting on second and third. Tyson helped himself to a sacrifice fly to score Cam and move Alexi to third. Alas, Everth Cabrera and Seth Smith couldn't drive him in. The good guys had another chance the very next inning when Chase Headley hit another leadoff single. An error on the play by Peralta put him in scoring position. Yasmani Grandal moved him to third with a ground out, bringing Will Venable to the plate. Now, if you can, imagine the worst possible thing that could happen in this situation. Is it Chase getting caught in a pickle, followed by Will getting caught in another pickle trying to reach second? Because that's what happened. The tying run was on third with one out, and the Padres blew it in the most embarrassing way possible.

Eric Stults will take the mound tomorrow night. First pitch at 7:10 PM, though you may want to get there earlier to pick up your snazzy fedora.

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