'Frustrated' Padres no-hit by D-backs rookie
Musgrove, who threw no-no in April, says flip side is 'not a good feeling'
PHOENIX -- All Joe Musgrove could do was watch the celebration around D-backs rookie starter Tyler Gilbert’s no-hitter from the visitors' dugout at Chase Field in silence.
He soaked the experience in. Every bit of it.
The San Diego right-hander knows what it feels like to throw a no-hitter and on Saturday, he was reminded of what it felt like to be on the other side.
“That’s a special moment and I got to live it,” said Musgrove, who threw the first no-hitter in franchise history on April 9 against the Rangers. “So, part of it was just watching the joy that he was experiencing and another part of it was letting it build that fire inside. That feeling is not good, getting no-hit.”
Saturday’s 7-0 loss was the fourth in a row for the Padres and stirred a bevy of emotions. Padres manager Jayce Tingler stopped short of calling the loss the lowest point of the season, but he came close.
“This is about as upset, angry, frustrated, as we've been as a group, and so we’ve got to come out ready to compete [Sunday],” Tingler said. “From pitch [No. 1] , we can't take a pitch off, can't take a pitch off at the plate. We have got to just absolutely grind, and we can't be worrying about anything, statistically, anything in the records, anything like that. It’s about just competing pitch to pitch and finishing in 27 outs.”
The Padres still have a 2 1/2 game lead over the Reds for the second National League Wild Card spot, but there’s no denying the club’s recent woes. For starters, the Padres have been outscored 29-5 during the current four-game losing streak.
The situation is so serious that veteran first baseman Eric Hosmer called a meeting following Saturday’s loss. And while the specifics of Hosmer’s meeting were not made public, Tingler has been open about his desire for his team to play loose and have fun. The manager wants his team to stop pressing.
“I think [Hosmer’s speech] was what we needed,” Musgrove said. “Whether he gives that speech or not, and talks to us or not, sometimes games like this can turn your season around. Maybe we needed something like this to shake things up a little bit and get us going.”
The Padres could use a boost in every facet of the game.
The offense is slashing .181/.224/.283 with one home run and averaging 1.25 runs per game during the losing streak. Expanded to the last 10 games, the Padres are hitting .247/.303/.377 with six home runs and 3.6 runs per game.
The pitching staff has a 7.91 ERA with a .357 opposing batting average and 1.059 opponent’s OPS in the last four games.
In Musgrove's words, “It’s crunch time here.”
“We know who we are chasing, and we know who is coming behind us,” the pitcher said. “It’s tough when guys are all struggling at the same time. It makes things a lot worse than what it could be. I had hoped to come out here and have a strong outing, get deep into the game and kind of reset things, but sometimes something like this can be what turns the season around for me.”
Unlike Gilbert, Musgrove struggled with command of his pitches in the strike zone. The D-backs made him pay for it.
Josh VanMeter led off the game with a double on the first pitch Musgrove threw and scored when the next batter, Ketel Marte, followed with a double. Marte scored Arizona’s second run on a single by David Peralta. Drew Ellis then hit a three-run home run, the first long ball of his career, to put the Padres in a 5-0 hole.
Musgrove threw 39 pitches in the first inning. He loaded the bases in the fourth after two quick innings, but escaped the frame unscathed. The right-hander gave up another run in the fifth on a triple by Josh Rojas and was charged with six runs on 10 hits in five innings, throwing 97 pitches.
The Padres made hard contact against Gilbert, but he mowed through their lineup with relative ease. In the eighth inning, the rookie retired the side on three pitches. He went on to become just the fourth player to throw a no-hitter in his first career start.
“You have to tip your hat to Gilbert. It was a special night for him," Tingler said. "We've been a part of two of them this year and it's a lot more fun being on the other side."