Joe Musgrove dismissed chants of “Cheater!” after a weird spot test by umpires on the mound, pitching his hometown San Diego Padres into the following spherical of the playoffs Sunday night time with seven innings of one-hit ball in a 6-0 victory over the New York Mets.
Trent Grisham hit an RBI single and made a terrific catch in centre area that helped the Padres take the best-of-three National League wild-card sequence 2-1. Austin Nola and Juan Soto every had a two-run single.
San Diego superior to face the top-seeded Los Angeles Dodgers in a best-of-five Division Series starting Tuesday — making certain the Padres will play in entrance of their residence followers within the post-season for the primary time in 16 years once they return to Petco Park for Game 3.
It was the fifth time the Padres have received a playoff sequence. They took a first-round matchup in opposition to St. Louis in their very own ballpark with no followers permitted after the pandemic-shortened 2020 season earlier than being swept within the Division Series by the eventual World Series champion Dodgers.
For the Mets, a scintillating season ended with a whimper at residence in entrance of empty seats. Baseball’s largest spenders received 101 video games — the second-most in franchise historical past — however had been unable to carry off Atlanta within the NL East after sitting atop the division for all however six days.
New York was up by 10 1/2 video games on June 1 and 7 on Aug. 10 earlier than lastly ceding management final weekend. The defending World Series champions snatched away their fifth consecutive division title and a first-round playoff bye on the power of a head-to-head sweep in Atlanta — and the Mets by no means absolutely recovered.
Eargate. <a href=”https://t.co/xqaclYMjbA”>pic.twitter.com/xqaclYMjbA</a>
—@PitchingNinja
New York ace Max Scherzer received rocked in a Game 1 loss to San Diego and, after the Mets received Game 2 behind Jacob deGrom to stave off elimination, they mustered virtually nothing in opposition to Musgrove and completed with one hit within the loss.
No. 3 starter Chris Bassitt lasted simply 4 innings, giving up three runs and three hits with three expensive walks to batters close to the underside of the order.
Pete Alonso’s leadoff single within the fifth and Starling Marte’s stroll to begin the seventh had been the one baserunners permitted by Musgrove in his first post-season begin.
Robert Suarez and Josh Hader completed up for the Padres.
Musgrove grew up a Padres fan within the San Diego suburbs and pitched the franchise’s first no-hitter final yr in his second begin with the staff.
He was engaged on a one-hitter and warming up for the sixth inning Sunday when Mets supervisor Buck Showalter got here out of the dugout and spoke to first base umpire Alfonso Marquez.
All six umps huddled after which went to the mound as Marquez, the crew chief, felt Musgrove’s glove, cap — even his ears — apparently trying to find any unlawful sticky substances.
The spin fee was up on all six of Musgrove’s pitches. Umpires let him proceed, and he labored a 1-2-3 sixth.
Fans yell ‘Cheater!’
Fans yelled “Cheater!” at Musgrove, a member of the 2017 Houston Astros World Series champions that had been discovered by Major League Baseball to have stolen indicators illegally to assist their hitters.
The Astros’ dishonest scandal rocked the game. Musgrove has mentioned he feels uncomfortable carrying his championship ring and desires “one which feels earned” with the Padres.
“I assure Musgrove has Red Hot on his ears,” Milwaukee outfielder Andrew McCutchen tweeted. “Pitchers use it as mechanism to remain locked in throughout video games. It burns like insane and IDK why some guys thinks it helps them however on no account is it `sticky.’ Buck is sensible tho. Could be attempting to only throw him off.”
Joe Musgrove is feelin’ it. 😤<br><br>(MLB x <a href=”https://twitter.com/CueHealth?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@CueHealth</a>) <a href=”https://t.co/jKqnhsJ6NP”>pic.twitter.com/jKqnhsJ6NP</a>
—@MLB
During batting follow, San Diego second baseman Jake Cronenworth wore an old-school Tony Gwynn No. 19 uniform T-shirt, a giveaway at Petco Park in the future this season.
“We all received `em,” Cronenworth mentioned. “Usually lots of us put on ’em, however I feel everyone’s carrying hoodies as we speak.”
Cronenworth, nonetheless, figured this was a day to salute the late Padres Hall of Famer.
Mets’ Francisco Lindor was shaken up after fouling a ball off the within of his proper knee within the fourth. As the star shortstop was checked by an athletic coach, supervisor Buck Showalter strolled to the plate, picked up Lindor’s bat and handed it again to him. Lindor stayed within the sport and struck out.
San Diego went 5-14 in opposition to the first-place Dodgers this season and completed 22 video games behind them within the NL West.
New York begins its spring coaching schedule subsequent yr with split-squad video games Feb. 25 in opposition to Miami and Houston. The regular-season opener is March 30 at Miami.