Musgrove, Sánchez lead Padres past Marlins
MIAMI – Joe Musgrove pitched a no-hitter into the sixth, Fernando Tatis Jr. had three doubles and four RBIs and the San Diego Padres beat the Miami Marlins 10-1 on Thursday.
Recently acquired Gary Sánchez homered for the second consecutive day, helping San Diego to 11 hits after being limited to a two-hitter by three Miami pitchers Wednesday. The Padres finished 5-4 on their nine-game road trip.
Projected for a postseason berth after their run to the NL Championship Series in 2022, the Padres struggled to a 25-30 record the first two months.
“We have to keep pushing and trusting each other,” Tatis said. “We know what we have and we’re just going to keep fighting until we make it happen.”
Benefitting from a nine-run lead, Musgrove (3-2) kept Miami hitless until Luis Arraez’s leadoff infield single. The righthander allowed a third-inning run, three hits, walked three and struck out three over six innings.
After Arraez’s single, the Marlins loaded the bases against Musgrove with no outs. Musgrove induced a double play grounder that began with a force at home and then struck out Yuli Gurriel.
“As a pitcher, especially when I’m feeling as good as I am, having a couple of runs of support early in the game is huge,” Musgrove said. “The better you throw you start to build a little more confidence.”
The 30-year-old Musgrove became the first and remains the only Padres pitcher to throw a no-hitter with his outing against the Texas Rangers April 9, 2021.
Consecutive doubles from Ha-Seong Kim and Tatis in the fourth helped erase an eight-inning hitless skid for the Padres and tied it at 1-all. Xander Bogaerts’ groundout advanced Tatis to third and Brandon Dixon’s sacrifice fly put San Diego ahead.
Sánchez’s solo shot in the fifth made it 3-1. Claimed off waivers Monday, Sánchez drove Marlins’ starter Jesús Luzardo’s fastball over the wall in left. The two-time All-Star has hit safely in the three games since joining his new club, Sanchez’s third in two months.
“He moved around quite a bit and now he feels he’s in a good place to be able to produce,” Padres manager Bob Melvin said. “He has the ability to obviously drive the ball and do some good things offensively. We saw it again today.”
San Diego broke it open and chased Luzardo with a seven-run sixth. Sánchez’s two-run single and Tatis’ threeRBI double keyed the outburst.
“Our approach was great,” Melvin said. “We had a certain approach that we stuck to even though it didn’t work for the first three innings today. Then we had guys on base and tried to move the line.”
Luzardo (4-4) gave up five runs, four hits, struck out eight and walked one in 5 1/3 innings.
“He looked good the first three or four innings, but then the pitch count went up,” Marlins manager Skip Schumaker said. “And he got hurt by the higher pitch count and maybe a couple of pitches he wants back but a pretty good outing for the most part.”
The Marlins took an early lead on Arraez’s sacrifice fly in the third. Jonathan Davis reached on a leadoff walk then stole second and advanced after catcher Austin Nola’s throwing error. Joey Wendle walked before Arraez’s fly ball to medium left scored Davis.
Miami catcher Jacob Stallings pitched a scoreless ninth around Tatis’ third double.
BLESSING AND CURSE
Musgrove enjoyed his offense’s six-inning outburst that put the game out of reach. But the 32-minute top half meant a longer wait for Musgrove’s return to the mound and keeping his no-hit bid intact.
“I went down a couple of times to throw some weighted balls and move around,” Musgrove said. “My complaint for MLB to look at the length of those innings is allowing the pitcher that goes back out there to have a few extra seconds to throw a couple of more pitches. I asked for it and they wouldn’t give it to me.