San Diego Padres pitcher Joe Musgrove found himself under the limelight during Game 3 of the wild-card game against the New York Mets. Musgrove was called for a substance check by Mets manager Buck Showalter. Later after the game, Musgrove fired back, saying the Mets were “desperate.”
Showalter made the call for inspection late in the fifth inning after the Mets had gone scoreless throughout the previous innings. The team was also down four runs. Game officials, led by umpire Alfonso Marquez, were quick to check on the pitcher’s ear in the sixth inning. They found nothing.
After the game, Musgrove was asked about the call and fired back at allegations of him using illegal substances to help him pitch on the mound.
“I get it, dude. They’re on their last leg. They’re desperate. I don’t have much to say about it. At the point of the game when it happened, I was so dialed in already,” he said.
“All my pitches felt good. Felt like I was executing, so it was almost just kinda lit a fire under me. They came out and told me Buck wanted to check my face, my glove, my hat. At that point I was so dialed in, so focused on getting outs, it didn’t really affect me so much.”
More on Musgrove’s substance call
Showalter revealed that the call was made after he had received information that Musgrove could be using illegal substances. Suspicion toward the 29-year-old was likely due to him being on strong pitching performance on Sunday night, going consistent for seven innings. The 2022 All-Star only allowed for a single hit.
“I’m charged with doing what’s best for the New York Mets. If it makes me look however it makes me look or whatever, I’m going to do it every time and live with the consequences,” the former NY Yankees manager said.
“I’m not here to hurt somebody’s feelings. I’m going to do what’s best for our players and the New York Mets. I felt like that was best for us right now. There’s some pretty obvious reasons why it was necessary.”
Padres manager Bob Melvin defended Musgrove amid strong winds of cheating allegations made against the pitcher, especially after social media users noticed Musgrove’s ear appeared “shiny” during the game.
“The problem I have is Joe Musgrove is a man of character and questioning his character, to me, that’s the part I have a problem with,” Melvin said.
“I’m here to tell everybody that Joe Musgrove is above board as any pitcher I know, any player I know and unfortunately that happened to him. … The reception that he got after that was not warranted.”
With Sunday night’s 6-0 triumph over the Mets at Citi Field, the Padres now wrapped up their three wild-card game series. They will play the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Division Series on Wednesday at Dodger Stadium to kick off their postseason game series.