Pirates 7, Padres 5: Ross serves up a grand slam

Tyson Ross was looking pretty good after four innings today. That fifth inning was a bit of a problem, though. He fell apart before serving up the grand slam that lost the game and the series for the Padres. There were bright spots: Hunter Renfroe hit a double and a homer this afternoon. The five runs the offense scored would have done the trick most days, but they still had a chance to win today... if they hadn’t gone 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position.

Tyson had trouble with the long ball early on, as the Pirates got on board first when Corey Dickerson went yard in the top of the second. The Friars got that run back pretty quick. In the bottom half of the inning, Carlos Asuaje and Freddy Galvis drew back-to-back one out walks. A.J. Ellis knocked out a single to plate Asuaje, and Galvis took third on an error. Ross helped himself out with a sacrifice fly to put the Pads on top.

The good guys padded the lead in the third as Wil Myers led off with a walk. Wil turned on the afterburners when Renfroe hit a double to left, and San Diego led by two. That lead thinned in the third. Colin Moran hit a one-out single, and a ground out led to Dickerson replacing Moran on first. He continued to cause trouble by stealing second, and Elias Diaz brought him home with a double.

The fifth was when things fell apart. After retiring the first two batters, Ross gave up a double to Austin Meadows, then walked Josh Bell. Josh Harrison managed to pick up an infield single, and then Colin Moran hit a goddamn grand slam.

The Padres got one of those runs back when Renfroe went yard, but Diaz answered back by homering Tyson out of the game to start the sixth. Some small ball in the the bottom of the sixth scored one more run for the Friars, but it didn’t matter.

The Padres have tomorrow off, which is plenty of time for them to make it up to Oakland, where Clayton Richard will take on the A’s Tuesday. First pitch at 6:05 PM.