Padres' Joe Musgrove Knows He Has to Be Better

The struggles for San Diego Padres pitcher Joe Musgrove have continued. In Musgrove's latest start on Tuesday, he gave up five hits, four earned runs, one home run three walks while striking out five batters through four innings. The Padres went on to lose 5-1 to the Chicago Cubs, their lone loss of the series against the Cubs.

This is the third time in four starts that Musgrove has allowed at least four earned runs in a game. What was disappointing was the game prior Musgrove appeared to have turned the corner when pitching in a 3-2 win against the St. Louis Cardinals. During that game, Musgrove pitched six innings for the first time this season and gave up just one earned run, one walk and struck out seven batters.

Though Musgrove held the Cubs scoreless through the first few innings he pitched, he acknowledged that he put himself in a bad position at the end of his run during the game.

“My stuff felt really good,” Musgrove said, via Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune. “I mean all the way up until the end really. The walk really hurts and the hit batter hurts, but other than those two I feel like I threw the ball well. Stuff felt good and sharp. But you know, the walks put me in a position where I’m up around 90 pitches and the first four guys reach base to start that inning. It’s like, I get the move. You know, I would have liked to face Morel. I feel like I have a lot of weapons for him and Dansby (Swanson), but you put yourself in that situation, you can’t complain about it. So just got to be better.”

Musgrove will have the chance to rebound during his next start, which is expected to come against the Milwaukee Brewers.