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Bats back Ross as Padres pound Cubs

Jul 25, 2014 - 6:20 AM Chicago, IL (SportsNetwork.com) - Tyson Ross finished with a career-high 11 strikeouts to help the San Diego Padres in a 13-3 rout of the Chicago Cubs on Thursday.

Ross (9-10) stifled the Cubs through six solid innings, yielding one run on five hits and a walk. The 27-year-old right-hander received 11 total runs of support in his previous five outings and has given up two or less earned runs in seven straight starts.

Rene Rivera, Seth Smith and Will Venable each collected three hits, with Rivera adding a home run and three RBI for San Diego, which has won four of its last five.

Venable, Chris Nelson and Alexi Amarista knocked in two runs apiece.

"Guys are starting to climb with their averages which is good," said Padres manager Bud Black. "Overall, a very good offensive night for all."

Starlin Castro, Luis Valbuena and Chris Coghlan each posted an RBI in the setback, Chicago's seventh in its last eight games.

Edwin Jackson (5-11) was charged with five runs -- four earned -- on seven hits over five-plus innings before leaving with cramps in his throwing hand.

"It seems that anything that could go wrong has gone wrong over the past couple of weeks," Cubs manager Rick Renteria said.

Much like Wednesday's win, San Diego put up two in the first to grab an early lead. Following two quick outs, Smith singled and Yasmani Grandal brought him home with a triple to right. Grandal ripped the triple down the first-base line and the ball got lodged under the wall in foul territory. Right fielder Ryan Sweeney committed a miscue trying to dig the ball out from the padding, allowing Grandal to race around to third instead of settling for a ground-rule double. It wouldn't have mattered much, as Venable followed with a single to center that staked the Padres to a 2-0 advantage.

Ross allowed just two baserunners and struck out six through the first three innings, but Chicago got on the board in the fourth.

Singles from Anthony Rizzo and Castro put runners at first and third with no outs. Coghlan went down swinging before Valbuena drove a single to right that scored Rizzo. Sweeney then lined out and John Baker struck out to end the inning.

Rivera quickly got the run back with a solo shot to begin the fifth inning and help restore San Diego's two-run edge.

The Padres sent 15 men to the plate in the sixth, breaking the game open by matching the highest-scoring inning in the league this season. Every player in the lineup scored during the nine-run frame that helped the visitors to a 12-1 lead.

Grandal started things with a leadoff walk before Venable and Jake Goebbert each singled to load the bases. Nelson reached on a throwing error by Valbuena that pushed a run across, and Rivera followed with a two-run single.

Ross was hit by a pitch to load the bags again, then Amarista poked a base hit into center that plated Nelson and Rivera for an 8-1 lead. Smith, Venable and Nelson all added RBI knocks later in the frame to turn the game into a rout.

Castro and Coghlan provided RBI singles in the home eighth, and Yangervis Solarte capped the scoring with a sacrifice fly in the ninth.

Game Notes

Toronto scored nine runs in the seventh inning of a 10-0 win over Philadelphia on May 7 ... The 13 runs ties the club record for the most ever scored at Wrigley Field ... Jackson is winless in his last six starts ... Chicago hasn't won a series at home since taking two-of-three from Miami, June 6-8 ... The Cubs continue their 10-game homestand with a three-game set against St. Louis on Friday ... San Diego concludes its seven-game road trip with a four-game, wraparound series in Atlanta.