HOUSTON _ The slider that had been darting and diving as if Tyson Ross was driving his pitches by remote control flattened a bit in the fifth inning.
First came sharp singles, where for four innings there had been only one ball hit hard by an Astros player.
Then, in an instant, a light-hitting catcher ruined the day of Padres pitcher Tyson Ross and sullied what had been a marvelous series for Padres pitchers.
Max Stassi sent a 2-1 slider from Ross 381 feet to left field, hitting off the back wall of Minute Maid Park about 10 feet shy from leaving the yard altogether.
That was the Astros' first extra-base hit of the series and their first time to score more than one run in any of the three games, and it sent them on their way to 4-1 victory in Sunday's series finale.
Padres pitchers to that point had allowed two runs in 23 innings to the defending world champions, the major leagues' best hitting team in 2017.
That, of course, included the run that beat them Saturday _ a two-out pop-up 30 feet in front of the plate that was not fielded and allowed a run to score in the bottom of the 10th inning.
Charlie Morton, meanwhile, allowed the Padres just four singles over six innings Sunday, keeping his season ERA at 0.00. The Padres did get an unearned run across in the sixth on a hit batter, error, walk and fielder's choice.
They left eight runners on base and were 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position, essentially an encore of Saturday's seven left on base and 0-for-9 with runners at second or third.
Now losers of eight of their 10 games this season, the Padres would nonetheless leave Houston heartened that their starting pitching took a positive tilt in the past four games, as Joey Lucchesi, Luis Perdomo, Bryan Mitchell and Ross combined for to allow five runs in 22 innings. The rotation had allowed 22 runs in 32 2/3 innings over the season's first five games.
Now two full turns through the rotation, Ross is the only Padres pitcher to have lasted six innings in both of his starts.
He was one out from completing his second quality start when Josh Reddick launched a 1-2 slider to right to give the Astros the 4-1 lead that would stand to the game's conclusion.
