MELVIN LETS MUSGROVE FINISH 7TH
Bob Melvin walked to the mound with two outs in the top of the seventh inning Sunday. Robert Suarez was ready in the bullpen. Joe Musgrove was clearly on fumes.
“I wanted to know what he thought,” Melvin said. “And he wanted to try to get that last out. So that was great.”
Musgrove did get one more out, completing seven innings for the second straight start. It was the fourth time in the past seven games a Padres starter has gone seven innings, and it was the Padres’ major league-leading 17th quality start.
Clearly, that is a credit to the starting pitchers. But it seems Melvin should share in that recognition.
Besides his penchant for manipulating batting orders and working every position player on the roster into game as frequently as possible, one of Melvin’s defining characteristics has been the faith he has shown in his starting pitchers.
“I think towards the end of the season, being able to get deep into games like this and (Melvin) challenging us earlier in the year is going to pay off,” Musgrove said after the Padres’ 3-2 victory over the Marlins. “When the end of the year comes and we need to get deep into games, it’s not going to be our first time getting there. Everyone
has pitched deep.”
Another day
Musgrove talks frequently about the “evolution” of his pitching, the process he has gone through in his career of learning how to prepare between starts and sequence pitches and stay present and control what he can control.
One of the things he has learned to deal with is pitching during the day.
It is not uncommon for players, particularly pitchers, to prefer night games. That is when most games are played, and players are generally creatures of habit who thrive when their routine is uninterrupted.
Musgrove entered this season with an 8-14 record and 5.19 ERA in day games. The Padres have won both his daytime starts this season,
as Musgrove has gone seven innings both times and allowed a total of three runs.
With the Padres temporarily using a six-man rotation and having an off day this past week, Musgrove made his second Sunday start in a row. He expects his next start to be Sunday in Atlanta.
“I don’t mind day games, but like it’s always nice to get to sleep in and prep a little more for the night game,” he said. “It’s a little more fun pitching the night under the lights, but I’ve gotten a lot better with days now.”
Voit’s work
Luke Voit is the self-deprecating kind, and he has given himself plenty of material lately.
Voit returned to Petco Park on Sunday after his rehab assignment with Triple-A El Paso, a fivegame stint in which he was 0for-18 with 12 strikeouts and two walks.
“Setting records down there,” he said Sunday morning.
Voit, who suffered a biceps tendon injury in spring training and played through it for nearly three weeks, is back with the Padres to work with the team’s hitting coaches. He could also get at-bats in a simulated game before being activated.
Melvin said it hasn’t been decided when Voit will come off the injured list, though it could be as soon as today to replace outfielder Matt Beaty, who is likely headed to the IL with a shoulder injury.
Voit spent time while in Triple-A working with former major leaguers Allen Craig and Ian Kinsler, who serve as advisers in the Padres’ baseball operations department. They watched plentiful video of Voit hitting in 2020 and ’21, when he was hitting home runs and getting on base at an acceptable rate.
While with the Chihuahuas for their road series against the Sugarland Space Cowboys, Voit fiddled with the uprightness of his stance, the width of his feet, the height of his hands.
“I think my head was spinning a little bit trying to make everything the right way instead of just seeing the ball, hitting the ball kind of thing,” Voit said.
The Padres designated hitter was homerless and batted .143/.315/.167 in his first 54 plate appearances of the season. He was trying to compensate, especially on outside pitches, for the injury that didn’t allow him to fully extend his arms without experiencing discomfort.
Of all the tinkering, he said, “I left it in Sugarland. I gotta remember baseball is fun and just enjoy it.”
He reported a positive development.
“I feel like I’ve finally got some thump behind the ball — in the cage now, obviously not in the games,” he said.
More rehabs
A big few days are coming up for Padres pitchers working back from injury.
Blake Snell (adductor) starts Tuesday for El Paso in what is expected to be his final rehab start before making his season debut on the Padres’ next road trip.
Adrian Morejon will start Tuesday for low-A Lake Elsinore in San Jose, his first game since Tommy John surgery in April 2021.
Michel Baez, who had Tommy John surgery in March 2021, will make his third rehab appearance. The first two were in low-A. This one is in Double-A.
Morejon and Baez are on the 60-day injured list and are eligible to return June 7.