The Padres have a no-hitter, too
Thanks to San Diego's own Joe Musgrove, the Padres are no longer the only team in the league without a no-hitter.
I usually don’t write and publish stuff on the weekends, but the San Diego Padres got a no-hitter from Joe Musgrove last night, and that is a statement that would’ve sounded like gibberish just a few months ago.
Let’s dive in with three thoughts about the game:
Power is overrated
Joe Musgrove finished the game throwing 112 pitches with an average velocity of 86.3. He barely touched his 4-seam fastball or sinker because he had something going with a mix of slider, cutter, and curveball.
Joe had complete control over all three pitches, which allowed him to vary up where the ball was going to go without putting any guys on. Look at how much he lived in the strike zone last night:
Living on the corners, he was not. About 70% of his pitches went for strikes in this one, including a bunch that he was able to get whiffs on out of the strike zone to get him up to 10 strikeouts in the game.
Caratini’s crazy stat
I have no idea how that’s possible. Some catchers in the history of baseball have caught consecutive no-hitters, but never for different teams.
That’s something that Caratini can legitimately put on a resume because there’s no way it could be just a coincidence. His expert calling of the game and calm demeanor in the dugout between innings must be exactly what a pitcher needs.
Don’t underestimate how much Musgrove seems to love throwing to Caratini and don’t be surprised if Caratini is attached to him the way he’s attached to Yu Darvish, giving him at least 40% of the catcher starts this season (and going forward).
That being said…
Joe is amazing
Joe Musgrove has not allowed a run in 31 consecutive innings. Yes, seriously. This is now a thing we need to pay attention to in case he can get close to Orel Hershiser’s record of 59 consecutive scoreless innings.
Musgrove, who grew up a Padres fan and wears #44 because he was a huge Jake Peavy fan, has started his Padres career with 15 scoreless innings and two dominant wins.
Joe finished his Pirates similarly, throwing 13 scoreless innings in his final two starts with the team.
I know what you’re saying. 15 this year plus 13 last year is 28 innings, not 31. Well, if you dig into that loss against the Reds a little more…
Musgrove went 5 innings, but the Reds scored all of their runs in the first 2, meaning the final 3 innings of the game were scoreless for Cincinnati.
The last time Joe Musgrove gave up a run in an MLB game was in the 2nd inning of a game on September 15th