NEW YORK — San Diego Padres starter Joe Musgrove knew Sunday was the biggest start of his life and felt sick to his stomach all day.
The stakes were high. A winner-takes-all playoff final in front of a hostile New York City crowd at Citi Field. San Diego needed a good start from right after the team struggled in Game 2 against the Mets.
As Musgrove contemplated the five-year, $100 million contract the Padres rewarded him with in August, he felt the weight of the Padres’ season fall on his shoulders.
But as first pitch approached and Musgrove warmed up in the bullpen at Citi Field, he pulled Padres catcher Austin Nola aside to talk about the night ahead.
“I’m going to have the best start of my life,” Musgrove told Nola.
His premonition came true, as Musgrove went seven innings, allowing just one hit, one walk and striking out five batters, propelling the Padres to a 6-0 victory and punching a ticket to the NLDS and a matchup against the Los Angeles Dodgers. In the process, Musgrove made history, becoming the first pitcher in major league history to throw seven shutout innings and allow a hit in a game-winning postseason game.
Throughout the night, Musgrove relied on his fastball, cutter, curveball and slider to completely dominate the Mets’ lineup, retiring the first 12 batters of the game, good for the longest perfect game bid in history of the Padres’ postseason. The Mets struggled to build offensive momentum against the Padres, with first baseman Pete Alonso tallying the Mets’ only hit of the night in the fifth inning.
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“You can see the resolution [Musgrove’s] face and the demeanor he had,” Melvin said. “He was on a mission today.”
An odd moment came in the bottom of the sixth inning when Mets manager Buck Showalter requested a substance test from Musgrove as footage circulated online of the Padres starter’s ear appearing to glow. The umpires subsequently dug their fingers in and around Musgrove’s ear, but found nothing that violated the rules.
Mets fans at Citi Field followed the inspections with loud boos directed at Musgrove, with chants of “cheating” echoing throughout the stadium.
“We didn’t find anything,” referee Alfonso Marquez said.
Melvin countered that the Mets asked to test Musgrove for foreign substances.
“The problem I have is that Joe Musgrove is a man of character,” Melvin said. “Questioning his character, that’s the part I have a problem with and I’m here to tell everybody that Joe Musgrove is above the table as any pitcher I know, any player I know and unfortunately the reception he received after that was not warranted.”
After the substance was tested, Musgrove hit Mets catcher Tomas Nido and waved toward the New York dugout, passing under his nose. Musgrove said the Mets’ foreign substance screening was “desperate” and the team’s “last-ditch attempt to take me out of the game.”
“It pretty much just lit a fire under me,” Musgrove said.
Showalter said the team had information, including Musgrove’s increased turnover rate, that led him to ask the umpires to check for foreign substances. According to Baseball Savant, all of Musgrove’s pitches topped his season’s pitching average on Sunday night.
“I’m charged with doing what’s best for the New York Mets,” Showalter said. “If he makes me look like he makes me look, or whatever, I’ll do it every time and we’ll live with the consequences. I’m not here to hurt anybody’s feelings.”
The Padres will be making their second Division Series appearance since 2006, with their only other appearance coming in 2020 when they lost to the eventual World Series champion Dodgers.
Los Angeles was 14-5 against the Padres in the regular season. The Dodgers ranked as the best offense in baseball in 2022, scoring 847 runs, while San Diego ranked 13th among all teams, scoring 705 runs. The Dodgers also had the lowest team ERA in baseball while the Padres ranked 11th.
Sunday’s win also ensures the Padres will play their first home playoff game with fans at Petco Park since 2006.
“It’s one of the best feelings tonight,” Padres manager Bob Melvin said. “We talked about it in the hitters’ meetings today. There’s a lot at stake here and a lot of reasons to be motivated and inspired. One of them is to bring this thing to San Diego and give them an experience postseason.”
With Musgrove pitching exceptionally well in the biggest game of his career, Mets starter Chris Bassitt had little room for error, but the Padres’ offense took advantage of every opportunity they got early in the game.
San Diego’s offense came gradually throughout the night. Catcher Austin Nola started the scoring with a single to left field that scored first baseman Josh Bell and shortstop Ha-Seong Kim. In the fourth inning, Padres outfielder Trent Grisham, who has led the Padres offense in previous Wild Card games with two home runs, singled down a steep line drive to center field, scoring Kim.
Bassitt left the game after four innings, allowing three runs on three hits, three walks and two strikeouts.
“I was just beating myself up,” Bassitt said. “Looking back at Atlanta’s start, I’m not sure how many runs they scored on walks, and then tonight I know they walked two guys. Not too proud of that.”
The Mets bullpen didn’t fare much better. Third baseman Manny Machado added in the fifth inning by hitting a line drive single by reliever David Peterson into right field, scoring outfielder Jurickson Profar, making it 4-0. In the eighth, outfielder Juan Soto added some cushion with a single to left field off Edwin Diaz, scoring Kim and Grisham. The Padres’ six runs proved to be more than enough to punch a ticket to the Division Series.
“That’s a kick in the balls,” Scherzer said.
The stakes are high for the Padres, who made blockbuster moves at the trade deadline for superstar outfielder Juan Soto and reliever Josh Hader. San Diego also dealt with the fallout from the 80-game suspension in August of superstar shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr., who tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug.
The Padres have made significant financial investments in Tatis, Soto, Machado, Yu Darvish, Wil Myers and Blake Snell, hoping to contend for a World Series title.
Sunday’s win brings San Diego one step closer.