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You couldn’t pay someone to write a better script than that.
On Friday night, Joe Musgrove, a San Diego-native, in his second career game for his hometown club, pitched the first no-hitter in Padres history. In fact, he was THIS close to pitching a perfect game had it not been for an errant pitch that hit the Rangers’ Joey Gallo in the bottom of the fourth.
JOE-NO! pic.twitter.com/cVRPQmGde3
— San Diego Padres (@Padres) April 10, 2021
After supposedly not sleeping well the night before and voicing some tightness in pre-game, Musgrove looked up at the scoreboard in the sixth, realized he was on the path to history, and decided it was now or never. He was going to “ride it until the wheels came off,” as he put it in his post-game interview.
In all, Musgrove struckout 10 batters while throwing 112 total pitches.
In summary, teammate Wil Myers put it best:
No-no Joe.
— Wil Myers (@wilmyers) April 10, 2021
Someone put it on a t-shirt.
Myers helped get the Padres on the board early in the second with a well-hit double between left and centerfield. Surprisingly, Homser — who was sprinting from first base — got the wave to head home and just barely tapped the plate before being tagged. Even after further video review, the Padres kept the 1-0 lead.
Myers wound up scoring on a fielding error by centerfielder Leody Taveras later that inning and Manny Machado cranked another perfect double into the outfield gap to drive in the Padres’ third and final inning of the game.
After the game, Padres pitching legend Trevor Hoffman had to get in on the celebration, as well.
Hometown kid getting it done!!! Congrats Joe!! @ItsbuccnJoe59
— Trevor Hoffman (@THoffman51) April 10, 2021
Enjoy the celebrations, everyone! Thank goodness this happened during the weekend.
Catch the Padres back in Globe Life Field tomorrow afternoon at 4:05 p.m.