
The San Diego Padres’ beginning rotation will get again a doubtlessly key participant on Monday night time within the first of a three-game collection towards the visiting Pittsburgh Pirates.
Joe Musgrove (3-4, 5.66 ERA), who has been sidelined since Might 26 with proper elbow irritation, is predicted to take the mound. Whereas he could also be restricted to 60 pitches after throwing 43 pitches for Lake Elsinore Single-A on Aug. 4 in Fresno, Musgrove, a right-hander, is optimistic , he’s able to make an influence for San Diego down the stretch.
“Quite a lot of offense, just about every little thing being directed, (velocity) being in a extremely good place,” he mentioned of the beginning of his rehab within the minors. “My physique feels good.”
That is Musgrove’s second harm of the season, with each gamers coping with the identical subject. This time, he not solely recovered slowly, but in addition acquired PRP injections along with cortisone injections. Musgrove mentioned his elbow hasn’t bothered him since he began throwing once more.
Musgrove’s elbow felt ok for him to throw a 96 mph fastball in Fresno, the toughest pitch he is thrown all 12 months.
“Anytime you get Joe again it helps,” Padres supervisor Mike Shildt mentioned. “It’s additionally good so that you can have more healthy arms this time of 12 months.”
Musgrove is 1-2 with a 3.33 ERA in 5 profession begins towards Pittsburgh, which traded him to San Diego earlier than the 2021 season. He hopes to equal that document for one of many hottest groups within the sport.
Regardless of Sunday’s 7-6 loss to Miami, the Padres have gained 16 of their previous 19 video games and are tied with Arizona for first place within the Nationwide League’s wild card, 4 video games forward of the Atlanta Braves. San Diego has gained seven straight collection for the reason that All-Star break.
The Buccaneers, in the meantime, went in the other way. They misplaced 6-5 in 10 innings to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday, their seventh straight loss – which included final week’s collection sweep at dwelling towards San Diego – that left them within the closing. 5 video games behind within the wild-card spherical.
The most recent loss was notably painful for Pittsburgh, which rallied from a 4-0 deficit within the second inning with the assistance of two two-run homers by Andrew McCutchen and Within the tenth inning, Bryan Reynolds led 5-4 on an RBI single.
However struggling nearer David Bednar missed back-to-back save possibilities towards San Diego on Wednesday and Thursday and was unable to keep up the lead. He gave up the game-tying RBI double to Enrique Hernandez and a single to Teosco Hernandez.
To make issues worse, Bednar has thrown a whopping 37 pitches and can doubtless not be capable to play on Monday night time, which may imply some uncomfortable selections for head coach Derek Shelton if the Buccaneers discover themselves in a salvage scenario .
“We all know what’s at stake, we all know what we have to do,” Pittsburgh pitcher Mitch Keller mentioned. “it [stinks] Have a horrible time right here.
Left-hander Marco Gonzalez (1-1, 4.54 ERA) will doubtless begin for the Pirates on Monday. On Wednesday night time in Pittsburgh towards the Padres, he allowed eight hits and 5 runs in 4 2/3 innings as San Diego gained 9-8 in 10 innings.
Gonzalez has began in three profession video games towards San Diego and is 1-0 with a 5.52 ERA.
–Scene-level media