Joe Musgrove shuts down the Mets with his arm and glove as the Padres win 7-0

AP Sports Writer

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Joe Musgrove allowed just one hit in seven brilliant innings and made a terrific defensive play to lead the San Diego Padres to a 7-0 win against the New York Mets on Friday night that evened a four-game series between teams in playoff contention.

Musgrove (4-4) faced just one over the minimum as he matched his season high with nine strikeouts and walked none. It was his third start back after missing 2 1/2 months with right elbow inflammation.

With two outs in the sixth, Francisco Lindor hit a bouncer to the right side of the infield. Musgrove bounded off the mound, made a sliding stab at the ball and scooped it with his glove to first baseman Jake Cronenworth for the out. Musgrove and Cronenworth slapped five while smiling.

Musgrove didn’t allow a baserunner until Starling Marte doubled over the head of right fielder David Peralta with one out in the fifth. Musgrove, who grew up in suburban El Cajon, threw the first no-hitter in Padres history on April 9, 2021, at Texas in his second start with his hometown team. Dylan Cease threw the club’s second no-no on July 25 at Washington.

“Oh, man, masterpiece. Wow,” manager Mike Shildt said. “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.”

Musgrove got his first win since April 21.

“It feels good to be back in the win column,” he 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 said 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 go up 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 gem “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 tough play because he had his back to the runner and didn’t know how far down the line he was and how hard he was running.

“It’s kind of a tweener play,” Musgrove said. “Me and Jake talk a ton 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. As soon as it got past me there was a little bit of hesitation whether I should cut to the bag or keep following the ball. I glanced and saw him at the bag so instinct took over at that point. I’ve always felt I’m pretty good at handling my position and that was one of my funner plays.”

Musgrove said he planned to glove-flip it once it got past him. “I thought I was going to get to it and just run to the bag. I went for more of a shovel pass more than like a catch and flip.”

The Mets finished with just two hits while the Padres had 16 hits, including three each by Luis Arraez and Manny Machado.

Arraez and Kyle Higashioka homered for the Padres, who improved to 23-8 since the All-Star break and beat 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 in the series opener Thursday night.

The Padres came into the night holding the NL’s second wild-card spot while the Mets were 1 1/2 games out of the third spot.

Mets starter Paul Blackburn (5-4) was knocked out of the game after being hit on the right hand by a line drive by Peralta in the third inning. Blackburn shielded his face with his arm and was hit by the ball, which caromed to second baseman Jose Iglesias, who threw out Peralta. The Mets said he had a bruised hand and will undergo further tests on Saturday.

Blackburn sat on the ground and motioned to his right hand when catcher Francisco Alvarez came out to check on him. He was tended by the training staff and came out of the game. He was replaced by Ryne Stanek with the Padres leading 4-0.

Arraez’s leadoff homer was the eighth of his career and third this year for the Padres. He has four homers this season.

The Padres had four straight hits to open the second, including Higashioka’s two-run homer, his 15th. Jake Cronenworth added a two-out RBI single.

The Padres added on after Blackburn was knocked out of the game. Higashioka greeted Stanek with an RBI double and Arraez had a two-out single.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Mets: Activated rookie RH reliever Dedniel Núñez from the 15-day injured list. Optioned RHP Huascar Brazobán to Triple-A Syracuse.

Padres: Reinstated Yu Darvish from the restricted list and returned him to the 15-day injured list. Designated INF Matthew Batten for assignment.

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UP NEXT

Mets LHP David Peterson (7-1, 3.00) and Padres RHP Michael King (11-6, 3.18) are scheduled to start Saturday night.

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