SAN DIEGO _ Because July has arrived, because the Padres are again a season-high 12 games below .500, because they will get nothing if he walks after this year, every day this month could be Tyson Ross' last in a San Diego uniform.
Only Sunday's effort in a 7-5 loss to Pittsburgh will not help the front office's push to flip the 31-year-old Ross for something ahead of the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline.
Not one bit.
Ross allowed a season-high seven runs, watched a season-worst three home runs sail over the walls at Petco Park and did not strike out a batter for the first time this season.
That might not be the worst of it: He recorded as many walks _ three _ as swing-and-misses before one last blast from Elias Diaz to open the sixth inning chased Ross from the game.
Corey Dickerson hit a solo homer in the first and Colin Moran's fifth-inning grand slam buried the Padres in a 6-3 hole that withstood the makings of several would-be rallies.
Hunter Renfroe, who doubled in a run in the third inning, cut that deficit to two with a fifth-inning homer, his fifth of the season.
Wil Myers plated a run in the sixth inning, which ended with pinch-hitter Christian Villanueva striking out with the bases loaded.
Two runners were on base when Manuel Margot flied out to center to end the seventh and the Padres went down in order in the eighth and ninth.
Early on, it looked like Dickerson's second-inning homer would be a minor hiccup for Ross, who closed June with three straight quality starts.
The veteran right-hander even gave himself a 2-1 lead in the second, following up A.J. Ellis' run-scoring single with a sacrifice fly to center.
But Diaz doubled in a run in the third inning and two-out trouble haunted Ross in the fifth.
It started with Austin Meadows' double to left. A walk to Josh Bell and Josh Harrison's tapper in front of the mound loaded the bases and emptied them with an offering at middle-in, 88 mph four-seamer.
Diaz later led off the sixth with a solo homer off Ross, fetching Padres manager Andy Green from the dugout for the first of 11 combined pitching changes in the three-plus-hour game.
