Padres let Tyson Ross attend brother Joe’s MLB debut in Washington
Tyson Ross did his job for the San Diego Padres on Friday night, picking up the win after allowing two runs in five innings during their 6-2 victory against the Cincinnati Reds.
On Saturday, the Padres did a favor for Ross in return, allowing him to leave the team and fly to Washington to watch his brother, Joe Ross, make his major league debut against the Chicago Cubs.
Of course, Ross would not have been available to the Padres in a pitching capacity on Saturday. But sometimes teams need all 25 men — whether it be to pinch run or lay down a sacrifice bunt as a pinch hitter — when games get deep into extra innings, so it’s no small gesture that San Diego allowed him to go knowing they too were scheduled for an afternoon game.
The Padres wound up taking care of business in regulation, defeating the Reds again 9-7, so the short roster wasn’t an issue.
As for the debut of Joe Ross, it went perfectly for three innings as he set down the first nine Chicago Cubs he faced in order. The second time through the order proved more difficult, however, as the Cubs greeted him with three straight hits and a run to begin the fourth.
Ross ended up tossing five innings, allowing three runs on six hits. He took the loss in Washington’s 4-2 defeat.
On some days, Ross’ performance might have been good enough for a win, or at least good enough to avoid a loss. Unfortunately, he was matched up with Jason Hammel, who has been locked in recently this season and locked in his entire career against Washington. The Cubs veteran right-hander went eight innings, allowing two runs on five hits to improve to 9-0 in his career against Washington.
Overall, it was an encouraging outing for Ross. He’s expected to remain in the Stephen Strasburg slot in Washington’s rotation for at least one turn. Then it’ll be time to evaluate Strasburg’s recent trapezius strain injury.
Joe Ross was a first round draft pick (25th overall) by the Padres in 2011. Tyson joined him a short time later after being acquired from the Oakland A’s for Andy Parrino and Andrew Werner. Joe was then traded this past offseason in the three-team deal that sent Wil Myers to San Diego.
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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Townie813
