Texas Rangers’ offense mystified in no-hitter by San Diego Padres’ Joe Musgrove
The 2021 MLB regular season has seen its first no-hitter, and the San Diego Padres have seen the first in their franchise’s history, and it came at the expense of the Texas Rangers.
The Rangers did not collect a base hit Friday night against Padres right-hander Joe Musgrove, and the only Rangers base runner in the 3-0 loss came in the fourth inning when Joey Gallo was hit by a pitch.
The Padres began play in 1969 and had gone 8,205 games without a no-hitter. They were the only active MLB franchise without a no-no.
Musgrove’s gem marked the fourth time in Rangers history they have been no-hit, with the last coming April 18, 2007, when Chicago White Sox left-hander Mark Buehrle pulled off the feat in a 6-0 victory.
The Rangers hadn’t collected as few as one hit in a game since Aug. 25, 2019, when five White Sox pitchers shut them down. The only hit was a fifth-inning single by Shin-Soo Choo.
Rangers manager Chris Woodward said he was concerned about Musgrove’s sharp off-speed pitches. It wasn’t going to be an easy night.
He was right.
“Even when you know it’s coming, this guy’s got pretty elite breaking balls,” Woodward said. “A lot of our guys knew is was coming sometimes and couldn’t even get a swing off. He threw the ball well. We ran into a buzz saw.”
Musgrove struck out 10, including Anderson Tejeda three times, with a mix of off-speed pitches that kept the Rangers guessing. He got Gallo in the first inning on a changeup.
Musgrove retired the final 16 batters he faced en route to the first complete game of his career, and only a few balls were actually hit hard.
Following the hit by pitch, Nate Lowe hit a liner to right field with a 108.7-mph exit velocity. Jose Trevino’s sinking line drive to right to end the eighth left the bat at 98.4 mph.
Isiah Kiner-Falefa hit two balls with triple-digit exit velocity, but both were groundouts.
“There was like three different scenarios where I thought I lost it,” Musgrove said.
Musgrove retired pinch-hitter David Dahl to start the ninth on a line drive to second base, Leody Taveras on a soft grounder between the mound and first-base line, and Kiner-Falefa on a grounder to shortstop.
The Padres raced from the dugout, their positions on the field and the bullpen to congratulate the 28-year-old Musgrove, who grew up in El Cajon, California, just outside of San Diego.
“It’s awesome to have it be in a Padres uniform,” said Musgrove, who was acquired from the Pittsburgh Pirates in an offseason trade and was making only his second start with San Diego. “To have it be the first in the history of the franchise, that’s incredible.”
The Padres scored their runs in the second and third innings against right-hander Kohei Arihara, who was making his second MLB start. Four Rangers relievers combined on five scoreless innings in relief of Arihara.
This story was originally published April 9, 2021 at 9:54 PM.
