Previously in this series
Previously in this series
With the series win in the bag, our Padres find themelves looking to complete a sweep for the second time in a week, this time against the visiting Reds. After beginning the series with a one-hit win against former Friar Mat Latos on Monday, the team came back and put on a hitting clinic last night against the San Diego-born Mike Leake. Today Tyson Ross will try to take us into the off day with another victory to complete the sweep and keep the team in its newly-acquired seat in third place.
Ross hasn't been the luckiest pitcher to grace the mound for San Diego lately. In his last five starts, he's 0-4 with a 3.94 ERA. During that stretch he's only received one run of support from the Padres offense through 32 innings of work. But if Ross can pitch like he did when he faced the Reds in May, he may not need much more than one run. He pitched seven innings of one-run ball at Great American Ballpark, allowing only three hits (though also walking five) and collecting eight strikeouts.
Johnny Cueto also pitched, and dominated the Friars, in that May series. He went the full nine innings and kept San Diego scoreless, giving up only three hits and issuing two walks while striking out eight batters. That was his third complete game of the season. Cueto leads the majors in ERA (1.88), innings pitched (124 1/3), and WHIP (0.84) and has the second most strikeouts (122) in the National League. He is 3-0 over his last four outings, the most recent of which was an 8 1/3-inning, two-run effort in San Francisco, where he contributed to a Reds sweep. But the Padres offense has found two very different ways to win in this series, so Cueto won't know what he's in for this afternoon.
Tune in at 12:40 PDT to cheer our boys to their second home sweep of the season.