San Diego Padres' Joe Musgrove Becomes First Pitcher to Accomplish This Feat
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San Diego Padres starting pitcher Joe Musgrove made playoff history in game three of the National League Wild Card Series Sunday night.
Musgrove became the first pitcher in postseason history to allow two hits or fewer, pitching seven or more innings in a winner-take-all game.
Musgrove was untouchable over seven innings Sunday night at Citi Field in New York, shutting down the New York Mets' potent offense at every turn.
Musgrove allowed just one hit and one walk over seven scoreless innings, striking out five, using 86 pitches to keep the Mets off the scoreboard.
The only hit Musgrove allowed was to Mets slugger Pete Alonso in the bottom of the fifth inning.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, Mets manager Buck Showalter requested the umpires check Musgrove for foreign substances after Musgrove's ears appeared to look shiny.
The umpires did an intensive check of Musgrove, taking off his hat, checking his hand, his glove and his ears, but did not find anything.
Musgrove made a gesture to the Mets' dugout after he struck out Tomas Nido to begin the bottom of the sixth, after he was checked for sticky stuff.
Sunday was Musgrove's first ever start in a postseason game. Musgrove entered Sunday with seven total postseason appearances, all pitching out of relief for the Houston Astros in 2017 during their World Series run.
Musgrove entered Sunday with a career 8.10 ERA and 1.05 WHIP across 6.2 postseason innings. Musgrove is ready to write a new postseason chapter as a starting pitcher for the Padres, this time around.
The Padres defeated the New York Mets 6-0 Sunday night, advancing to the National League Division Series to play the Los Angeles Dodgers. The NLDS begins Tuesday.
