Joe Musgrove gave up only one hit in seven outstanding innings and made a fantastic defensive play to lead the San Diego Padres to a 7-0 win against the New York Mets on Friday night. The victory evened the four-game series between the two playoff-contending teams.
Musgrove (4-4) allowed just one baserunner over the minimum, matching his season high with nine strikeouts and walking no one. This was his third start since returning from a 2 1/2-month absence due to right elbow inflammation.
With two outs in the sixth inning, Francisco Lindor hit a ground ball to the right side of the infield. Musgrove raced off the mound, made a sliding grab, and threw the ball with his glove to first baseman Jake Cronenworth for the out. Musgrove and Cronenworth celebrated with high-fives and smiles.
Musgrove didn’t allow a baserunner until Starling Marte hit a double over the head of right fielder David Peralta with one out in the fifth inning. Musgrove, who grew up in suburban El Cajon, threw the first no-hitter in Padres history on April 9, 2021, at Texas. Dylan Cease later threw the team’s second no-hitter on July 25 at Washington.
“Oh, man, masterpiece. Wow,” said manager Mike Shildt. “Impart your will. He was in control the whole way. He was just pouring it in there. Dominating counts, everything was crisp.
Throwing it where he wanted to. Just a masterful, masterful performance.” This was Musgrove’s first win since April 21.
“It feels good to be back in the win column,” Musgrove said. “It feels like it’s been months and it probably has been. It was a good outing all around. Threw a lot of strikes.”
Musgrove mentioned he introduced a new pitch, a gyro slider similar to what Cease throws. “Something that I feel I get in the zone a little more and be more aggressive to the edge. The sweeper’s been really hard for me to get a strike on the outer half, so I was able to use the traditional slider as more of a strike pitch and maybe just off the edge.”
Musgrove said his defensive play “kind of gave me a little jolt and gave me that little adrenaline boost to get back out there and feel strong for the seventh.”
He said it was a difficult play because he had his back to the runner and wasn’t sure how close he was or how fast he was running.
“It’s kind of a tweener play,” Musgrove said. “Me and Jake talk a lot about me getting over, and I told him, ‘I’ll always be at the bag on anything your way so flip me the ball, I’m going to be there.’ Part of me was thinking he’s going to go after the ball and let me have the bag.
Once it got past me, I hesitated a bit about whether I should go to the bag or keep following the ball. I looked and saw him at the bag, so instinct took over at that point. I’ve always thought I’m pretty good at handling my position, and that was one of my more enjoyable plays.”
Musgrove said he planned to flip the ball with his glove once it got past him. “I thought I would get to it and just run to the bag. I went for more of a shovel pass rather than a catch and flip.”
The Mets ended up with just two hits, while the Padres had 16 hits, including three each from Luis Arraez and Manny Machado.
Arraez and Kyle Higashioka hit home runs for the Padres, who improved to 23-8 since the All-Star break and defeated the Mets for the first time in five tries this season. The Padres had lost two straight games for the first time since the break, including the series opener on Thursday night.
The Padres entered the night holding the second wild-card spot in the NL, while the Mets were 1 1/2 games behind for the third spot.
Mets starter Paul Blackburn (5-4) was taken out of the game after being hit on the right hand by a line drive from Peralta in the third inning. Blackburn covered his face with his arm and was struck by the ball, which then deflected to second baseman Jose Iglesias, who threw out Peralta. The Mets said Blackburn had a bruised hand and would undergo further tests on Saturday.
Blackburn sat on the ground and indicated his right hand when catcher Francisco Alvarez came out to check on him. He was treated by the training staff and left the game, being replaced by Ryne Stanek with the Padres leading 4-0.
Arraez’s leadoff home run was the eighth of his career and his third this year for the Padres. He has four homers this season.
