Another fantastic start from Tyson Ross and a sixth-inning offensive explosion gave the Padres their second series victory in a row since the All Star break.
Two in the 1st, one in the 5th, nine in the 6th, and one more in the 9th. That was more than a winning combination for the San Diego Padres tonight. Taking cue from last night's great performance, the infamous bats of an offensive offense contradicted themselves and collected 13 runs in 14 hits.
Padres All-Star Tyson Ross had a stellar performance as well. Going six VERY solid innings giving up only one run and one walk, but striking out a career high 11. Hard to say that's a guaranteed win for a team like the Padres, but tonight they made extra sure that it was.
The 1st
The Pads kicked things off with a Seth Smith Single, who was then plated by Yasmani Grandal on a Wrigley triple, his first of the season. Will Venable would then follow up Yas with an RBI single of his own. 2-0
Relocate your bullpen location like a smart baseball team.
The 5th
A solo Rene Rivera HR gave the Padres a 3-0 lead now, Rene's seventh home run of the season.
Fastest recorded Cubs fan throwing opponent HR back onto the field.
The 6th
The inning started with a pitching change after Grandal working a walk and Venable popping a single off Edwin Jackson. Brian Schlitter came in to do damage control, but he only made things worse.
Things got ugly when Chris Nelson bounced an easy grounder for the Cubs in a bases-loaded situation. The ball reached home, but never stayed in poor John Baker's glove and Grandal scored. Rene Rivera followed up with an RBI single to drive in Venable and Jake Goebbert.
Looks like he really dropped the ball on that one.
Tyson Ross took one for the team and reached first on a HBP. Alexi Amarista avenged Ross with a blip RBI single up the middle to bring home Nelson and Rivera. Schlitter was brought out for Wesley Wright, but things weren't about to get better for the Cubbies.
He thinks he's really a ninja.
Seth Smith showed up again to knock in Ross with a soft single. A lull of a Yasmani strikeout was granted only to be interrupted by a Vill Wenable RBI single to get the little ninja across the plate. Then Chris Nelson made his second appearance and popped another single to score two more runs, making him responsible for at least three for the inning. 12-1 Padres.
Nelson will haunt Cub dreams for at least a week.
The 9th
Yangervis Solarte wasn't about to be left out of the fun, and before the Cubs could wrap things up he brought Lil Amarista home on a sacrifice fly to make things an odd 13-3.
Shiny Shiny Stars
Tyson Ross 6IP, 1ER, 1BB, 11SO
Rene Rivera 1HR, 2R, 3H, 3RBI
Chris Nelson 1R, 1H, 2RBI
Seth Smith 2R, 3H, 1RBI
Will Venable 1R, 3H, 2RBI
Alexi Amarista 2R, 1H, 2RBI
Basically everybody did amazing. Goebbert and Ross were the only starters to not have an RBI for the night. Ross still managed to get on base, and both Jeff Francoeur and Jace Peterson came in to draw a walk.
The Padres are flying into dirty Atlanta for a four game series, Jesse Hahn returns to the game to kick things off. A perfect test for our first sweep of the season.
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Everybody was at Comic Con so the turnout was still a little bit thin. Somebody was going a little bonkers with the recs. I'm counting TheThinGwynn (5), jodes (3), and A huevo and Hormel (2).