San Diego Padres right-hander Joe Musgrove has inflammation in his right shoulder capsule and will be shut down for at least three weeks, general manager A.J. Preller said Friday.
Musgrove was scratched from his scheduled start Wednesday and had an MRI that revealed the inflammation. Musgrove is 10-3 with a 3.05 ERA.
“I honestly thought we were going in for a pretty routine checkup: inflammation (I thought I’d get an) injection or some meds or something and get out of there. They went in and found some injury to the capsule which is a pretty significant part of the shoulder that leads to bad things. Every part of me is telling me I want to go out there and throw but everything is telling us we need to step back and give it some rest," Musgrove told NBC 7.
The setback comes as the Padres were beginning to play better after failing to live up to the expectations of having baseball's third-highest payroll. The Padres have won five of six games going into Friday night's opener of a four-game home series against the NL West-leading Los Angeles Dodgers. Still, the Padres, who made a stirring run to the NL Championship Series last year, are nine games back and one game under .500. They are four games out of the third wild-card spot, with three teams ahead of them
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"I can sit here and sulk and say poor me or I can take it for what it is and maximize the time that I have off, find other ways to improve areas of my game that I haven’t been able to isolate and focus on, whether that’s physical stuff or game planning and pitching. And, try to be here for these guys as much as I can," Musgrove added.
The Padres acquired 43-year-old Rich Hill from Pittsburgh on Tuesday. Right-hander Michael Wacha remains on the injured list.
Musgrove, who grew up in suburban El Cajon, pitched the first no-hitter in Padres history in just his second start with his hometown team, on April 9, 2021, at Texas.
