Game Preview: Padres Look to Sweep in Series Finale

Jul 29, 2014; San Diego, CA, USA; San Diego Padres starting pitcher

(38) pitches during the fifth inning against the St. Louis Cardinals at Petco Park. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports

Pitching Matchup:

The Padres will send Tyson Ross (10-10, 2.60 ERA) who is coming off a career month in the midst of a career year. In July, Ross made six starts only allowing only 5 runs on 28 hits over 41 innings.

To put it in perspective, the Padres scored 8 runs in the 7th inning of Wednesday’s game against the Cardinals. In the day before Wedneday’s offensive surge, Ross put a stamp on his phenomenal month with a 6 inning, 1 run, and 4 hit outing against the Cardinals. The only concerning number was the 5 walks he issued. In his 5 earlier starts in July he only gave out 5 free passes. So far it’s just an outlier, but today we’ll see if it starts to become a trend.

Aaron Harang (9-6, 3.43 ERA) will get the task of opposing Ross. It’s been a resurgent year for Harang, whose career looked just about over when he failed to make the Indians rotation out of Spring Training.

The Braves took a flier on him with all of their injuries and he’s produced more than anyone could have guessed. At 36 years old, he’s on pace to post the lowest ERA of his career after coming off a year in which he had his highest ERA.

His last time out was not one of his finer performances though. He went 6 innings allowing 4 runs on 9 hits getting a no decision. It was by no means a bad start, but for him it was one of his worst. The Padre hitters will be in for a challenge, but the way they’ve been hitting they should be able to scratch across a few runs in support of Ross.