Musgrove, Padres win again in Miami 5-2
Credit: USA Today Sports
The San Diego Padres received a quality start from Joe Musgrove in their 5-2 win over the Miami Marlins.
Starting pitchers for the Padres vastly underperformed to start July and coming out of the all-star break. In the most previous series in against the Atlanta Braves, Yu Darvish and Chris Paddack both pitched well, so there was some improvement of late.
Now, to start the series against the Marlins, Blake Snell and Joe Musgrove each pitched six innings while allowing less than three runs -Snell allowed one while Musgrove allowed two- for two quality starts.
“I thought Musgrove got stronger as the game went,” Padres manager Jayce Tingler said. “It felt like the slider really tightened up, and he started to locate it. Another quality start, and we need to keep it rolling.”
Joe Musgrove, Wicked 84mph Slider. 🤢 pic.twitter.com/p8LLnSqnaq
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) July 24, 2021
Musgrove struck out four in six innings while allowing six hits and one walk. In addition to his day on the mound, Musgrove got his third hit of the season with a two-out double in the second inning. He then scored on a single by Trent Grisham to extend the lead to 3-0. If Musgrove did not reach and score, he would not have received the win after allowing his two earned runs.
Fernando Tatis Jr. received an off day Tuesday, although he did come off the bench in the ninth inning and hit a 101.6 MPH fly out, so his typical two-spot in the lineup was empty.
Tommy Pham replaced Tatis Jr. batting second and immediately hit a home run in the first inning. The offense did not stop there, as Jake Cronenworth followed Pham with a triple. Cronenworth scored on a Machado groundout to give the Padres an early 2-0 lead.
🎣 @TphamLV pic.twitter.com/cBEWoSsRkd
— San Diego Padres (@Padres) July 23, 2021
The offense waited until the eighth inning to add onto their run total, with the lead at just one. After Ross Detwiler hit Jake Cronenworth with a pitch, Manny Machado doubled to put Cronenworth on third with no outs. Eric Hosmer failed to hit them in, but Will Myers hit a ground ball to Jesus Aguilar that ended up scoring two runs after Aguilar’s throw got away. Tingler referred to Myers’ at-bat as “the at-bat of the night.”
The 5-2 lead held for the rest of the game as Drew Pomeranz worked a scoreless eighth inning, and Mark Melancon picked up his 30th save of the season. Melancon got to wear the esteemed Padres swag chain for the first time following his save.
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“It just feels good to get one, so 30 is pretty cool,” Melancon said.
Ryan Weathers is expected to make his return from the injured list and start for the Padres Saturday. He exited the final game of the first half with an ankle injury after attempting to make a play on a ground ball. The first pitch will be at 3:10 PT.
Dominic is a graduate of Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, with a bachelor’s degree in Sports Journalism. He also is the producer and co-host of the “Padres EVT Podcast.”
