San Diego Padres: Pitching Dominates The Los Angeles Dodgers

In Cactus League action on Sunday, the San Diego Padres defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers (ss) by a score of 2-1. The Friars were lead by a number of dominant pitching performances.

Did Tyson Ross secure a rotation spot for the San Diego Padres after his performance on Sunday? With one more outing scheduled this week, it appears Ross has done all he can to earn a starting role.

The Los Angeles Dodgers split up their squad to play two games yesterday, sending Clayton Kershaw and a majority of the starting lineup up to take on the Padres. Tyson Ross wasn’t phased by the lineup.

Ross went four innings on Sunday, giving up just one hit and two walks. The only Dodger to record a hit off Ross was the final batter he faced, Enrique Hernandez. Hernandez lead off the fifth inning with a single, afterwards, Ross was immediately removed from the game.

In his post game comments, Manager Andy Green had this to say about Ross and his entire body of work over the last month.

"“He’s been good,” Green said. “There is no other way to describe him. Better command than I even remember seeing in 2015 … The slider is still lethal when the throws it. It’s exciting to see him like that. I know he feels good, and he should. He looks really good.”"

Of the four Friars competing for two rotation spots, Ross has been the most consistent. He’s now given up just 10 hits and five earned runs over 15 spring innings.

As the Cactus League schedule begins to wind down, the Padres’ bullpen has started to show stability, as well. Craig Stammen, Robert Stock, Kirby Yates, Jordan Lyles, and Phil Maton combined for five shutout innings. They struck out eight Dodger hitters and issued zero free passes.

It was the San Diego offense that sputtered initially, until they were finally able to breakthrough against the Los Angeles bullpen. Clayton Kershaw sat down eight Padre hitters while giving up just five hits and no earned runs.

Despite striking out 14 times, the Padres put up 10 hits, including two solo home runs to give the Frairs a spring training win.

Here is Hunter Renfroe‘s effortless home run against off Adam Liberatore.

Freddy Galvis joined in on the party, sending the go-ahead run to deep center field. Galvis is now hitting .342 this spring with two home runs.

Next: Talking Baseball With Kurt Bevacqua

The San Diego Padres will enjoy their second spring training off day today. They will return to action on Tuesday with a night game against the Cincinnati Reds which, yet again, fans will not be able to watch on tv.