SAN DIEGO -- Padres manager Bud Black had talked to Tyson Ross once or twice that it was getting to be time that the lanky right-hander threw his first career shutout. Tony Campbell Jersey . In his 55th career start, Ross got it, in dominating fashion. Ross threw a three-hitter for his first career shutout, struck out nine and walked none to help San Diego beat the Cincinnati Reds 3-0 Wednesday for its first series sweep since September. Ross got all the support he needed when Rene Rivera hit a three-run single off big league ERA leader Johnny Cueto in the first inning. "Its special," said the 27-year-old Ross, whos in his second season with San Diego. "Its the first time Ive been able to finish. A couple of games Ive gone eight innings and kind of ran out of gas but tonight I had enough in the tank and was able to finish." Ross (7-8) was dominating. He retired the first 11 batters before Todd Frazier singled to left. Frazier had two of the Reds three hits. Only Reds batter reached second, when Brayan Pena doubled with one out in the eighth. Ross then retired the side. "I think that he really smelled the finish line, which was good," Black said. "Hes been close a couple of times. He was there today. We talked just briefly after the eighth inning. There was no doubt in my mind he was going to go back out there and put up a zero. "Its a tremendous feather in his cap," said Black, a lefty who had 12 shutouts in 296 career big league starts. "You do it once, you can do it many more times. Good for him." Ross said getting the complete game was due to "being efficient early. I had a lot of ground balls, a lot of outs in the first three pitches to hitters. I kept the pitch count low early and that allowed me to finish it off later." Frazier said Ross "had a pretty good slider. I think thats his best pitch. He kept most of us off-balance. We hit the ball hard sometimes. A couple of guys squared some up. To me, he just made a couple of mistakes. A good pitcher, when he makes mistakes, you have to take care of the business." The Reds lost the last three games on 10-game trip after winning six of seven, including a four-game sweep of the NL West-leading San Francisco Giants before coming to San Diego. "A frustrating team in general in that we came in playing really well and come out of it losing three straight," manager Bryan Price said. "We had a chance to make up some ground on Milwaukee and St. Louis and we werent able to take advantage of it." The Padres beat the Reds 1-0 Monday despite getting one hit, and then had a season-high 16 hits in an 8-2 victory Tuesday night. The Padres, who tied their season high with their fourth straight win, hadnt swept a series since Sept. 6-8 against Colorado. With the bases loaded and two outs in the first, Rivera hit a blooper to the gap that hit off the heel of the glove of diving centre fielder Billy Hamilton and rolled away to give San Diego a 3-0 lead. San Diego appeared to take a 4-0 lead on Seth Smiths two-out double in the fourth, but the Reds appealed that Irving Falu missed third base. The umpires agreed, calling Falu out to end the inning. San Diego manager Bud Black argued, but the call was upheld on appeal. Ross had received only one run of support in his previous five starts, and he knocked in that run in his last start, a 2-1 loss to Arizona. Ross was 0-4 in his last five starts. Cueto (8-6) came in with the best ERA in the majors, 1.88. It rose to 1.99. He allowed three runs and seven hits in seven innings, struck out eight and walked three. NOTES: The Reds were swept for the first time since April 25-27. ... The Padres placed SS Everth Cabrera on the 15-day disabled list with a strained left hamstring, retroactive to Tuesday, and selected INF Brooks Conrad from Triple-A El Paso. Conrad is from San Diego. ... To make room on the 40-man roster, LHP Troy Patton was transferred from the 15-day DL to the 60-day DL. ... Padres OF Seth Smith signed a $13 million, two-year contract extension that runs through 2016, with a team option for 2017. ... The Padres are off Thursday before opening a three-game series against San Francisco on Friday, when LHP Eric Stults (2-11, 5.36) is scheduled to oppose RHP Matt Cain (1-6, 4.38). ... The Reds are off Thursday before opening a three-game home series against Milwaukee on Friday, when RHP Alfredo Simon (10-3, 2.81) is scheduled to start against RHP Kyle Lohse (9-2, 3.08). Jordan Bell Jersey . General manager David Poile called signing Ribeiro a great opportunity to add a talented, experienced and creative centre Tuesday when he introduced the veteran at a news conference. Ribeiros contract is worth $1.05 million after being bought out of the final three years of a $22 million contract by the Coyotes recently. Ricky Rubio Jersey . The teams all-time leading scorer, DeRo has won everything there is to win in MLS. COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Everybody knows what Nik Stauskas has done this season. But he had a lot of help from Michigans freshmen in leading the way to yet another big road win. Stauskas scored 15 points and freshmen Derrick Walton III and Zak Irvin each had a big game to power the 15th-ranked Wolverines to a 70-60 victory over No. 22 Ohio State on Tuesday night. "Obviously, it was a hostile arena," senior forward Jordan Morgan said. "Youve got to get comfortable with pressure that (the Buckeyes) are going to put on you. Theyre going to challenge you to make big plays and I think our freshmen stepped up and did it." Walton scored 13 points, added a career-high 10 rebounds and was just one behind his previous best in assists with six. Irvin came off the bench to give the Wolverines (18-6, 10-2 Big Ten) a lift. He scored 10 points, hitting both of his 3-pointers and adding a solid defensive effort. Michigan coach John Beilein was pleased with just about everybody in blue, but had particular praise set aside for his first-year players. "Walton had a great game, with 10 rebounds and controlling the tempo," he said. Of Irvin, he added, "Hes been a typical freshman in some ways, but the young man can make a shot." The victory ended a nine-game skid over the last 11 years in Columbus for the Wolverines, who came into the game tied for the top spot in the conference with Michigan State. "We love getting road wins. Thats one of the hardest things to do in this conference," said Morgan, who had eight rebounds -- six on the offensive glass -- and contributed six points. "Any time you can get one of those its big. Obviously, this game means a lot to a lot of people. For us to come into this environment and get this win is big." LaQuinton Ross had 24 points and Lenzelle Smith Jr. 13 for Ohio State (19-6, 6-6), which had a three-game winning streak snapped. The Buckeyes hadnt lost to their archrivals on their home court since a 61-50 setback on Jan. 15, 2003. The Wolverines were coming off an 85-67 loss at No. 17 Iowa on Saturday and had played three road games in 10 days and fivee games total over the last 13. Gorgui Dieng Jersey. But they had more energy in the second half -- outscoring Ohio State 44-30 -- to pull out a game in which they trailed by 10 points in the opening 20 minutes. The Buckeyes led by eight early in the second half, but that cushion disappeared when Michigan scored on four straight possessions, including a dunk by Jon Horford off Waltons assist, a 3 by Irvin, Columbus native Caris LeVerts steal and end-to-end layup, and two foul shots by Stauskas. That gave the Wolverines their first lead since their first basket at 44-43. The surge was part of a 12-0 run that turned the game around. Stauskas picked up a basket on a goaltending call before Walton slashed through the lane and was fouled while spinning in a layup, completing the three-point play to make it 49-43 with 9:15 left. "When it came down to it, they gave the ball to Walton down the stretch and let him make plays," said Buckeyes defensive whiz Aaron Craft. Ohio State got as close as 51-50 before Morgan scored inside and then, on the next trip down the floor, kept the ball alive on an offensive rebound, leading to a 3 by Stauskas. Shannon Scotts steal led to a dunk by Buckeyes teammate Sam Thompson, and Michigan was hanging on, 56-52, with 3:24 left. But LeVert drove the lane and flicked a pass to the right corner to Glenn Robinson III, who hit a 3 with 2:45 left to push the lead to 59-52. "Robinsons 3 from the corner was huge," said Ohio State coach Thad Matta, who fell to 17-5 against Michigan. After Craft airballed a 3 at the other end, Walton was fouled on a 3 with 1:54 left and calmly made all three to push the lead to 10. The Buckeyes didnt threaten again. "Today we werent the tougher team down the stretch," Craft said. It was the only regular-season meeting between the longtime rivals this season, due to the Big Tens 18-game, rotating schedule. Thats OK with Beilein. "It was like a Final Four game," he said of the atmosphere, which included a roaring crowd of 18,809. "It was loud. And it had two of the really good programs in the Big Ten going at it." ' ' '
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