MUSGROVE’S FIRST BAD START ARRIVES
Right-hander allows six runs to Phillies in six innings of work
The Padres ran out a lineup Thursday that resembled one of the many off-brand assemblages they put on the field for so many years (decades) of irrelevance.
The difference this time was they possessed the thirdbest record in the National League and had a Cy Young contender on the mound.
But on a night he was working with his slimmest margin for error, Joe Musgrove had his first bad game of the season.
The Phillies scored several games worth of runs against Musgrove in the sixth inning and beat the Padres 6-2 at Petco Park.
“Really the only in- ning this year that you’ve seen those kind of results from the opposing team off Joe,” manager Bob Melvin said.
Really the only game. Musgrove (8-1) had allowed a total of three runs in his previous five starts (34 innings) and had given up more than two runs just twice in 12 starts.
Musgrove, who had COVID last week, said he felt fatigued early, and he all but abandoned his fastball after the first inning.
Still, until the game unraveled quickly with the Phillies’ two homers, two singles and a double in the sixth, Melvin’s lineup gambit appeared as if it might work.
The Padres took a 1-0 lead on Eric Hosmer’s second-inning home run, and Musgrove did not allow a hit until Didi Gregorius grounded a single through the right side with one out in the fifth.
Gregorius advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored on Odubel Herrera’s single.
Kyle Schwarber’s two-run homer just beyond the wall in center and J.T. Realmuto’s three-run homer just over the wall in right made it 6-1 in the sixth.
“Get runners on base, have to do a better job of keeping the ball in the park,” Musgrove said.
It was unfortunate timing because Thursday’s Padres lineup was not comprised to mount a sizable comeback. With Manny Machado sidelined by an ankle injury and Melvin deeming it prudent to give Jake Cronenworth and Luke Voit a day off, the Padres had almost as many players (three) in the starting lineup batting under .200 as they did (four) batting above .250.