Padres Lose to Nationals and Former Pick Joe Ross

The Padres fell to the Nationals Friday night for the second consecutive night, 7-5, as they failed to get much going against former Padres draft pick Joe Ross.

The Padres have been more than happy with Wil Myers performance this season, but had to see what could have been with Ross on the mound and Trea Turner in the dugout for the Nationals.

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Joe Ross was pitching against his former team in San Diego for the first time, and he got the win by pitching 6 innings and allowing three runs. Fortunately, his offense gave him an early lead they would not relinquish.

Padres starter Christian Friedrich struggled for the first time this season, allowing 6 runs in 6 innings. The six runs was more than he had allowed in his previous 4 starts combined. Friedrich admitted his mistakes: “”My offspeed stuff [I] definitely didn’t execute, [I] left it up in the zone. I’d say that’s the difference between last outing and this outing.”

Ross of course was sent to the Nationals along with Trea Turner as part of a three team trade the Padres used to get Wil Myers before the start of the 2015 season. Myers is putting up great numbers for the Padres, though there are some rumors already suggesting the Padres might be open to trading him instead of building around him.

Jon Jay continued his good June with two more doubles to take the league lead. He is hitting .368 in June with 8 doubles. Matt Kemp came up in the 9th with Wil Myers on first and nearly tied the game with a bomb to left but just missed it. The Padres were then finished off quietly despite the Nationals being without regular closer Jonathan Papelbon.

Next: Wil Myers Making All Star Push

It certainly doesn’t get any easier for the Padres the rest of the weekend. Saturday Max Scherzer takes the hill who has already struck out 20 this year in a game and so far in June is 3-0 with a 1.23 ERA. The Padres send Colin Rea who is coming off the shortest outing of his career last week against Miami.