Rangers Lose To Padres
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ARLINGTON, Texas — Tyson Ross helped the San Diego Padres go into the All-Star break doing something they hadn’t accomplished since last month — winning a series.
The right-hander pitched 6 2/3 scoreless innings, and the Padres took advantage of a Texas miscue to beat the Rangers 2-1 Sunday.
San Diego hadn’t won a series since taking two of three from the Arizona Diamondbacks from June 26-28. The Padres wrapped up a 4-6 road trip with consecutive wins.
“Even in some of the losses, we had the right attitude and the right demeanor,” San Diego interim manager Pat Murphy said. “Things just weren’t going our way. We’re a little more resilient. This whole road trip we’ve been competitive every game. Ten hard games on the road, and every one of them comes down the eighth or ninth inning.”
Ross allowed just three hits and two walks while striking out six. He didn’t get much run support but got the momentum-changing run he needed in the second inning on an odd triple by center fielder Will Venable.
Venable hit a hard grounder that bounced off first baseman Mitch Moreland’s glove and into shallow right field. Right fielder Shin-Soo Choo broke late for the ball.
By the time second baseman Rougned Odor got the ball in, Venable was at
third. Shortstop Will Middlebrooks followed with a run-scoring fielder’s choice grounder off Yovani Gallardo (7-8).
Choo said he should have charged the ball and made the play because it is easier for the outfielder to get to the ball. That gaffe didn’t sit well with Texas manager Jeff Banister either.
“The play in right field that led to the first run was obviously tough,” Banister said. “It was tough to see and tough to be part of, allow a runner to go all the way to third base on a ball that barely gets to the outfield. Fundamentally our thought process is any time a ball’s in play we go hard, we go after the baseball. That should be our mindset, and we didn’t.”
Venable, who has hits in his past three games, was just as surprised as anyone he ended up at third.
“Once the ball got by Moreland and scooted into the outfield, I thought I might have a chance to go to second,” he said. “And when I got closer to second, it didn’t seem like anyone wanted to make a play on the ball, and I knew if the second baseman fielded the ball, there was no way he could turn and throw me out at third, so I tried to be aggressive and it worked out.”
San Diego second baseman Jedd Gyorko made it a 2-0 game with an RBI single in the seventh inning.
That was all Ross needed. The Rangers didn’t get a runner into scoring position against him until the fourth inning, when Texas left fielder Delino DeShields opened the inning with a double. He stayed at second, though, as Ross retired the next three batters.
The seventh-inning run proved to be huge as Texas made things interesting in the ninth off Padres closer Craig Kimbrel. Odor’s two-out single to center cut the lead to 2-1 as third baseman Adrian Beltre scored from second. Shortstop Elvis Andrus moved Odor to second with a single, but Kimbrel ended the game by striking out center fielder Leonys Martin for his 23rd save.
Gallardo allowed one run on six hits and walked four in his 5 2/3 innings.
“It was rough,” Gallardo said. “To lose the last game of the first half, I think it was tough. That’s pretty much all I can say. I felt better as the game went on. I was getting ahead of guys. It was just a matter of putting guys away.”
San Diego had eight hits, with right fielder Matt Kemp and catcher Austin Hedges each collecting two.
