With the Padres leading 5-1 in the fourth inning, Joe Musgrove walked off the mound with an elbow injury, helping the Padres bullpen secure their spot in the NLDS.

The Padres said Musgrove was experiencing right elbow tightness. The ESPN broadcast showed that at one point in the fourth inning, Musgrove shook his right arm as his velocity dropped.

Musgrove has been on the injured list twice this season due to elbow problems due to bone spurs.

He returned to the rotation in August after more than two months off and had a 2.15 ERA in nine starts leading into Wednesday’s start against the Atlanta Braves. The second start-up included more than a month of rest, a PRP injection and a delivery revision intended to take pressure off the elbow.

“In the past I’ve had injuries and come back and tried to do a little too much with a small number of pitches, but ultimately I didn’t get the progression work I needed because I was so focused on getting deep into the sport come. game and be as efficient as possible so that I wasn’t using my pitches in the way I normally would and I didn’t prepare them properly,” Musgrove said Tuesday afternoon.

“I’ve always been a kind of cross-the-bridge-when-we-get-there kind of guy with my rehabilitation.”

Musgrove allowed a run in the first inning – Michael Harris II doubled to open the game and scored on a sacrifice fly – but had not allowed a runner after the first, piling up four strikeouts as the Padres rallied to get him to take the lead.

He retired Ozzie Albies to start the fourth on an at-bat that started with a 90-mph four-seamer. The four-seamer before Marcell Ozuna’s groundout dropped to 90 mph. After driving two mid-70s curves into Matt Olson, a pitch that reached 80 mph earlier in the game, catcher Kyle Higashioka called a timeout for a mound visit.

Pitching coach Ruben Niebla joined them. Padres manager Mike Shildt and a trainer followed.

After a long conversation on the mound with the infielders around him, Shildt Musgrove patted the “PS” heart on his jersey as he walked down the mound with a trainer, his glove in his right hand.

Originally published: October 2, 2024 at 7:02 PM