NEW YORK — Starter Joe Musgrove ruled the New York Mets, who mustered one hit out of all of the night time, because the San Diego Padres cruised to a 6-0 victory in Game 3 of the National League Wild Card collection Sunday, punching a price ticket to the NLDS in opposition to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
San Diego took Game 1 of the collection in opposition to New York, teeing off in opposition to Max Scherzer to the song of 4 homers within the 7-1 win however struggled to muster a lot of an assault in Game 2 in opposition to Jacob deGrom, who allowed most effective two runs in six innings in a 7-3 loss.
After a Game 2 the place the Mets offense teed off on Padres pitching, San Diego wanted Musgrove to return thru all through the largest get started of his occupation. Throughout the night time, Musgrove trusted his fastball, cutter, curveball and slider to stay utterly dominate the Mets lineup. The Mets struggled to mount any offensive momentum in opposition to the Padres, with first baseman Pete Alonso tallying the one hit off Musgrove at the night time. In seven innings, Musgrove allowed no runs whilst hanging out 5 batters, strolling one and permitting no runs.
With Musgrove pitching exceptionally smartly within the largest recreation of his occupation, Mets starter Chris Bassitt had little room for error, however the Padres offense took good thing about each and every alternative they earned early within the recreation.
San Diego’s offense got here regularly all through the process the night time. Catcher Austin Nola began the tally with a unmarried to left box that scored first baseman Josh Bell and shortstop Ha-Seong Kim. In the fourth inning, Padres outfielder Trent Grisham – who is led the Padres offense within the Wild Card video games with two homers – singled on a pointy line power to middle box, scoring Kim.
Bassitt left the sport after 4 innings, permitting 3 runs on 3 hits, 3 walks and two strikeouts.
The Mets bullpen didn’t fare significantly better. Third baseman Manny Machado added on within the 5th inning using a line power unmarried off of reliever David Peterson to proper box, scoring outfielder Jurickson Profar, making the ranking 4-0. In the 8th, outfielder Juan Soto added some cushion via singling to left box off of Edwin Diaz, scoring Kim and Grisham. The six runs from the Padres proved to be greater than sufficient to punch a price ticket to the Division Series.
An extraordinary second got here within the backside of the 6th inning when Mets supervisor Buck Showalter asked a substance take a look at on Musgrove as photos circulated on-line of Padres starter’s ear showing to polish. Umpires therefore dug their palms inside of and round Musgrove’s ear, however didn’t to find anything else violating laws.
The Padres will make their 2d look within the department collection since 2006, with the one different look coming in 2020 once they misplaced to the eventual World Series champion Dodgers. Los Angeles went 14-5 in opposition to the Padres within the common season. The Dodgers ranked as the highest offense in baseball in 2022, scoring 847 runs, whilst San Diego ranked thirteenth amongst all groups, scoring 705 runs. The Dodgers additionally had the bottom workforce ERA in baseball whilst the Padres ranked eleventh.
The stakes are prime for the Padres, who made blockbuster strikes on the industry closing date for celebrity outfielder Juan Soto and reliever Josh Hader. San Diego additionally dealt with the fallout following the 80-game suspension in August of celebrity shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr., who examined sure for a performance-enhancing drug.
The Padres have made important monetary investments in Tatis, Soto, Machado, Yu Darvish, Wil Myers and Blake Snell, anticipating to contend for a World Series name, however effects have fallen in need of expectancies up to now. Since the Padres employed president of baseball operations A.J. Preller in 2014, San Diego has most effective made the playoffs in 2020 and this season.