Padres starter Joe Musgrove, facing Tommy John surgery, won’t be available for the remainder of the season. the Friars learned on the eve of their Division Series with the Dodgers.
The right-hander injured his ulnar collateral ligament, A.J. Preller, the Padres president of baseball operations, said Friday.
He left the decisive Game 2 of the NL Wild Card Series with elbow tightness. The Padres open the NLDS at 5:38 p.m. Saturday at Dodger Stadium with Dylan Cease on the mound.
Musgrove, 31, had been pitching through discomfort for a couple of weeks after being on the injured list from late May through mid-August with various elbow issues. He had a 2.15 ERA over 54 innings since his Aug. 12 return.
“I’m devastated about not being able to finish what we started,” an emotional Musgrove said in the Padres dugout Friday. “It’s just a matter of coming to grips … that this is it for me.”
Losing Musgrove is a blow. The native of El Cajon is revered by Padres fans for throwing the first no-hitter in franchise history in 2021.
A replacement on the roster, has yet to be named by the Padres, according to MLB.com.
“The good news is we have people that we trust and we’ve got a deep pitching group as we know, manager Mike Shildt told MLB. He went on to add of Musgrove, “He’ll be in our hearts but won’t be with us on the mound.”
Cease will be followed by righty Yu Darvish in Game 2 against L.A. The Dodgers have Yoshinobu Yamamoto in Game 1 and Jack Flaherty in the second contest.
“He’s a great leader, great teammate,” Cease said of Musgrove. “He’ll be with us in other ways.”
Meanwhile, the Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani is drawing a considerable amount of attention in the run-up to the series. Although he has achieved superstar status, he has never been in the playoffs before.
Last month he became the first player ever to have 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in one season.
“I’m just focused on remembering those good feelings that I have when I’m playing well,” he told reporters. “And the plan is to make sure that I do have those feelings going to the plate this postseason.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Updated 7:30 p.m. Oct. 4, 2024
