SAN DIEGO – Joe Musgrove found himself in unfavorable counts and more jams than he would have liked, and still managed to get his first win since throwing a no-hitter on April 9.
Musgrove made it through five innings and Manny Machado drove in two runs for San Diego, which beat St. Louis 5-4 Friday night in the first meeting between the teams since the Padres eliminated the Cardinals from the playoffs last year.
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Musgrove (3-4) had lost four decisions in five starts since pitching the first no-hitter in Padres history at Texas. He held the Cardinals to one run and five hits while striking out five and walking four.
“It wasn't the prettiest tonight but I feel like I did a good job of keeping us in the game," Musgrove said.
Mark Melancon worked the ninth for his major league-leading 13th save in as many chances. He allowed Nolan Arenado's solo homer with two outs, his seventh.
San Diego had only four hits but drew 12 walks against five Cardinals pitchers.
The Padres beat the Cardinals 2-1 in the wild-card round last season before being swept in the NL Division Series by the eventual World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers.
Musgrove got into and out of trouble in three straight innings.
In the third, he loaded the bases with one out on a single and consecutive walks before getting Arenado to ground into a slick double play started by rookie second baseman Tucupita Marcano.
The big right-hander allowed Yadier Molina’s leadoff double in the fourth before striking out the side sandwiched around an intentional walk to Harrison Bader. Musgrove loaded the bases again in the sixth but all the Cardinals got out of it was a sacrifice fly by Molina.
“There’s outings like that that you’re going to have throughout the year and you’ve got to be able to grind through it and not give up on yourself and find a way to limit the damage and I thought I did that decently well tonight," Musgrove said.
Said Padres manager Jayce Tingler: “You always feel good when you’ve got Musgrove on the mound."
Tingler said he thought Musgrove was good, "having to navigate through that lineup. ... I thought he made some huge pitches with some traffic against some very good hitters. He was able to get out of some of those jams. I thought tonight he was really good. Ran out of gas and just kind of pitched with his heart and his guts and just laid it out there for the fifth and was able to get through.”
Machado drove in two runs for San Diego, on a double in the first and a single in the sixth, scoring Trent Grisham both times.
The Padres scored two runs in the third without the benefit of a hit to take a 3-0 lead. Johan Oviedo walked the first three batters — Machado, Jake Cronenworth and Tommy Pham — to load the bases and made way for Jake Woodford. Brian O'Grady hit a sacrifice fly and Austin Nola was hit by a pitch to load the bases again. Marcano followed with an RBI grounder.
Oviedo (0-2) allowed three runs and two hits, walked five and struck out none.
Padres rookie Kim Ha-seong started a spectacular double play to end the sixth. Filling in for shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr., who's out following a positive COVID-19 test, Kim fielded Tommy Edman's bouncer as he stepped on second to force Bader, sidestepped the oncoming baserunner and made a leaping throw to first to get Edman.
Tyler O'Neill hit a two-run homer for the Cardinals off Emilio Pagán in the eighth.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Cardinals: Placed SS Paul DeJong on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to Thursday, with a non-displaced fractured rib and selected INF Max Moroff from Triple-A Memphis. Transferred RHP Jordan Hicks from the 10-day to the 60-day IL.
Padres: Placed LHP Drew Pomeranz on the 10-day IL, retroactive to May 10, with a left shoulder impingement and selected the contract of INF/OF Ivan Castillo from Triple-A El Paso.
UP NEXT
RHP Adam Wainwright (2-3, 3.80 ERA) starts for the Cardinals in the middle game of the series against RHP Chris Paddack (1-3, 4.78). Wainwright allowed two runs and six hits in Game 2 of the first-round playoff series at San Diego last season, getting a no-decision in the 11-9 loss.
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