With the San Diego Padres seemingly rolling to a National League Wild Card sweep of the Braves at Petco Park, the Friars got a massive dose of bad news.
With two outs in the 4th inning, Joe Musgrove, an All-Star and one of their best pitchers, was pulled from the game with an apparent injury. The team says Musgrove was experiencing right (pitching) elbow tightness.
Musgrove missed a couple of months in the middle of the season dealing with a bone spur in his pitching elbow. He took a PRP (platelet-rich plasma) injection and a cortisone shot to ease the inflammation, and, since coming back in August, was one of the best pitchers in the National League. Leading up to this start he said he's been feeling no issues with the elbow.
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Musgrove had just delivered a curve ball to Atlanta slugger Matt Olson when catcher Kyle Higashioka suddenly stood up, called time out and went to the mound to check on his starter.
The rest of the infield joined in, followed shortly by manager Mike Shildt and members of the San Diego medical staff. After a prolonged conversation, Musgrove walked to the dugout with a trainer, his night ... and potentially his postseason ... over.
NBC 7 will update this story as we know more about Musgrove's status.
