Grossmont High School alum Joe Musgrove made his first start in a Padres uniform (and his first outing wearing the #44 he chose to pay homage to his favorite player from childhood, Jake Peavy). If he makes the rest of his starts like this one his hometown team will be building a statue of him at Petco Park.
Musgrove tossed 6.0 shutout innings, allowing three hits with no walks, and struck out eight in a ? win over the Diamondbacks on Saturday night in the East Village. Musgrove didn’t allow an Arizona baserunner to even reach 2nd base.
In the 1st inning Manny Machado got his first hit of the season. It was also his first home run of 2021, an opposite field bomb to give the Padres a 1-0 lead. After Wil Myers walked and Jake Cronenworth reached on catcher’s interference Ha-Seong Kim got himself a souvenier.
Kim lined a single to left field to bring in Myers and make it 2-0 San Diego. It was the first Major League hit and RBI for Kim, the South Korean star who signed with the Padres in the off-season. He also singled in the 3rd inning to earn his first multi-hit game.
San Diego doubled the lead in the 2nd inning on a 2-run double by Wil Myers that brought home Fernando Tatis Jr. and Tommy Pham, a cushion that was more than enough for the local kid.
One of the few hard hit balls Musgrove allowed was in the 4th inning when 1st baseman Christian Walker hit a long line drive to left. Jorge Mateo, an infielder by trade, got back to the warning track and made a leaping catch while banging into the wall to rob Walker of at least extra bases. Musgrove let out a hearty scream and tipped his cap in appreciation of the defensive assistance.
Machado drove in another run with a single in the 4th inning that plated Tatis Jr. to make it 5-0 Friars. In the 6th Manny scored on another double by Myers that missed being a home run by a foot or two to pump the lead up to 6-0. Myers scored on a double by Jake Cronenworth that erased any any all doubt that the Padres would start the season 3-0.
Rookie Ryan Weathers gave us another first with his first regular season big league appearance. After dealing with the Dodgers in the National League Division Series in his Major League debut, this must have seemed like a walk in the park.
Weathers took care of the last 3.0 innings, allowing just one hit and striking out three to give the rest of the Padres bullpen a nice little rest.
San Diego goes for a 4-game sweep to open the season on Sunday afternoon when Chris Paddack makes his first start of the season.
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