Sunday featured the only Game 3 of the Wild Card round of the MLB playoffs between the New York Mets and the San Diego Padres, and San Diego’s pitching was the star of the show.
Padres pitcher Joe Musgrove started the game for San Diego and performed excellently, going seven innings while only allowing two base-runners on the night.
This performance made Musgrove the first pitcher to ever only allow one hit with seven scoreless innings in a winner-take-all game.
Joe Musgrove silenced the Mets' offense 🤫
He is the first pitcher in MLB postseason history to throw 7️⃣ scoreless IP and allow one or zero hits in a winner-take-all game 👀 pic.twitter.com/kN5BIgSlkM
— ESPN (@espn) October 10, 2022
Mets manager Buck Showalter even requested that Musgrove be checked for foreign substances in the bottom of the sixth inning, and the umpires found no evidence of such activity.
Padres relief pitchers Robert Suárez and Josh Hader would pitch in the eighth and ninth innings respectively, and both would flawlessly not allow a hit or walk to put an exclamation point on a 6-0 victory over New York.
The Padres move on to the NLDS against the Dodgers with a 6-0 Game 3 win over the Mets. pic.twitter.com/QJoe5pEsSC
— The Comeback (@thecomeback) October 10, 2022
Padres stars Manny Machado and Juan Soto came up with some big hits to drive in runs in this game, but the story for many was the dominant pitching of San Diego.
No question, the difference in this series was dominant Padres pitching of Darvish and Musgrove, Bob Melvin’s steely faith in Trent Grisham and steadfast moral support from Emma Stone and her San Diego-born hubby.
Brown pinstripes did their part, too.
— Tom Krasovic (@SDUTKrasovic) October 10, 2022
the Padres are the 1st team in postseason history to allow just 1 hit in a winner-take-all postseason game
this was the 127th winner-take-all game in postseason history
— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) October 10, 2022
Thanks to Darvish and Musgrove each pitching lights out, the Padres bullpen is as in as good a shape as possible after a 3-game series, heading into the NLDS
— Eric Stephen (@ericstephen) October 10, 2022
Seven innings of one-hit ball for Joe Musgrove, pitching for his hometown Padres' in the franchise's third winner-take-all playoff game. It won't be the story. But it's a pretty darn good one.
— AJ Cassavell (@AJCassavell) October 10, 2022
Limiting the Mets’ offense who scored the fifth-most runs in all of baseball in the regular season to only two baserunners is certainly an incredible accomplishment.
San Diego will now take part in the NLDS their National League West rivals, the Los Angeles Dodgers.
This matchup has not been a successful one in the regular season for San Diego, with the Dodgers winning 14 of their 19 matchups when they faced off this year.
That being said, if the San Diego Padres can replicate the pitching success that they had against the Mets, they will certainly have a chance to upset the Dodgers in their upcoming series.
