Joe Musgrove stops Mets with his arm and glove as Padres win 7-0

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Joe Musgrove allowed just one hit in seven brilliant innings and made a superb defensive play to lead the San Diego Padres to a 7-0 victory over the New York Mets on Friday night that tied a four-game series between playoff contenders.

Musgrove (4-4) faced just one batter over the minimum and matched his season high with nine strikeouts and no walks. It was his third start after missing 2 1/2 months with right elbow inflammation.

With two outs in the sixth inning, Francisco Lindor homered to the right side of the infield. Musgrove jumped off the mound, slid toward the ball and caught it with his glove off first baseman Jake Cronenworth for the out. Musgrove and Cronenworth batted five while smiling.

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

“Oh, man, a masterpiece. Wow,” manager Mike Shildt said. “He just imposes his will. He was in control the whole time. He just gave it his all. He dominated the counts, everything was precise. He threw the ball wherever he wanted. Just a masterful, masterful performance.”

Musgrove earned his first win since April 21.

“It feels good to be back on the winning track,” he said. “It feels like months have passed and it probably has. It was a good outing overall. He threw a lot of strikes.”

Musgrove said he introduced a new pitch, a spinning slider similar to the one Cease throws. “Something I feel allows me to get into the zone a little bit more and be more aggressive on the edge. The sweeper has been really difficult for me to get up on the outside half, so I was able to use the traditional slider as more of a strike pitch and maybe a little bit further out to the edge.”

Musgrove said his defensive gem “gave me a little jolt and gave me that little adrenaline boost to go back out there and feel strong for the seventh.”

He said it was a tough play because he had his back to the running back and didn’t know how far from the line he was or how fast he was running.

“It’s a middle-of-the-road play,” Musgrove said. “Jake and I talked a lot about my passing and I told him, ‘I’m always going to be on base on anything you pass, so just pass me the ball, I’m going to be there. ’ Part of me was thinking he was going to go after the ball and let me take the base. As soon as he passed me, I was a little hesitant about whether I should cut to the base or keep following the ball. I looked over and saw him on base, so instinct took over at that point. I’ve always felt like I’m pretty good at handling my position and that was one of my more fun plays.”

Musgrove said he planned to throw the ball with his glove once he got past it. “I thought I was going to catch it and run to the base. I tried to shovel it more than catch it and throw it.”

The Mets finished with just two hits while the Padres had 16 hits, including three each from 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 for the first time since the break, including the series opener Thursday night.

The Padres entered the night occupying the second NL wild-card spot, while the Mets were 1 1/2 games out of third place.

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

Blackburn sat on the ground and pointed with his right hand as catcher Francisco Alvarez came out to check on him. He was attended to by the training staff and left 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 rattled off four straight hits to open the second inning, including Higashioka’s two-run homer, his 15th. Jake Cronenworth added a two-out RBI single.

The Padres added points after Blackburn was knocked out of the game. Higashioka greeted Stanek with an RBI double and Arraez singled with two outs.

TRAINERS ROOM

Mets: Activated rookie right-hander Dedniel Nunez from the 15-day injured list. Optioned right-hander Huascar Brazoban to Triple-A Syracuse.

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

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NEXT

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

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