Joe Musgrove comes back strong as Padres beat Pirates to open series

Joe Musgrove walked off the field Monday night at Petco Park to a standing ovation.

Just before he reached the dugout, he looked into the stands, tapped his heart twice and gave a quick wave in acknowledgment.

It had been a good night.

About as good as it could be for Musgrove.

He was, albeit in an purposefully abbreviated opportunity, reminiscent of his peak self — which is quite the accomplishment when pitching in a major league game for the first time in 2½ months.

Musgrove, out since the end of May with elbow issues, made it through 4⅓ scoreless innings on 63 pitches. He threw all of his pitches. He threw his fastball as hard as he has all season. He threw strikes.

Big picture, the night was a success for the Padres.

They were able to make it work in the immediate sense as well, scoring a run in the seventh and another in the eighth and beating the Pirates 2-1.

A seventh-inning double by Jurickson Profar ended the night of Pirates starter Jake Woodford, who was released by the White Sox in June and entered the game with a 7.41 ERA. The right-hander worked through a career-high six innings in just 70 pitches before Profar lined a ball to right to start the seventh and scored on Xander Bogaerts’ one-out single against reliever Kyle Nicolas.

Singles by Bryce Johnson and Ha-Seong Kim, a Pirates error and a sacrifice fly by Kyle Higashioka added the second run.

The extra run was crucial, as the Pirates scored in the ninth against Robert Suarez before he closed out his 25th save when center fielder Jackson Merrill made a diving catch for the final out.

The victory kept the Padres in a tie with the Diamondbacks for the National League’s top wild-card spot with 42 games remaining.

But the best news was the result the Padres really wanted to get Monday — that Musgrove was strong and healthy.

Musgrove walked a batter with two outs in the first, allowed a one-out single in the second and hit a batter with one out in the third.

His 49th pitch of the night was his fastest this season, at 94.8 mph. The next pitch was hit down the right field line by Rowdy Tellez for a one-out double in the fourth. He got out of that inning with two groundouts, having thrown 59 pitches.

He came back out and retired Bryan De La Cruz on a fly ball to start the fifth before Mike Shildt walked to the mound to take the ball.

Bryan Hoeing got the game to the seventh, and Jeremiah Estrada, Tanner Scott and Suarez worked an inning apiece.

It had been 77 days since Musgrove’s last start. The Padres had survived and even come to thrive without him. They still believe they need him to go as far as they want to this season.

Musgrove was among the best starting pitchers in the National League in 2021 and ‘22, ranking 13th in the majors in ERA (3.06) and 10th in innings pitched (362⅓). His 2023 season started late and ended early due to myriad injuries, but he also turned in a 12-start stretch from late May to late July in which his 1.83 ERA was second best in the majors and his 73⅓ innings pitched were third most.

He entered Monday having made just 10 starts this season and with a 5.66 ERA. He spent two weeks on the injured list in April and made just two starts in May before having to be shut down.

Musgrove has said he doesn’t know all that is going on his elbow, but he has had bone spurs in there for a couple years. He also said there was a bone bruise, and his first IL stint was attributed to triceps tendinitis.

To alleviate some pressure on his elbow, he has altered his delivery. He said the alteration is a slight one involving his shoulder remaining more “closed” and using his legs more.

To get him back throwing as he was the previous three seasons would be a gigantic boost, not only for the run of 18 games in 18 days that begins Friday but for their anticipated postseason run.

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