Joe Musgrove leaving playoff start vs Braves with injury kills Padres' vibes

After the San Diego Padres closed out Game 1 with a convincing win, Game 2 of the NL Wild Card series against the Braves started off exceedingly well. Joe Musgrove was looking good aside from a minor hiccup in the first inning and the Padres' offense parlayed some supremely fortunate batted ball luck into an early 5-1 lead.

Petco Park was one giant party and it looked like San Diego was going to run Atlanta right off the field.

Unfortunately, things took an unfortunate turn in the top of the fourth inning. Musgrove got the first two hitters out, but his velocity was down.

After he broke off a couple curveballs that were thrown a good five mph slower than usual, the Padres' training staff went out for a visit and the decision was pretty quickly made to pull Musgrove from the game early.

Joe Musgrove pulled early from Game 2 of NL Wild Card series due to injury

It is way too early to start diagnosing Musgrove as there is no official word from the team yet. What we do know is that his velocity was down enough to cause concern and there is some chatter that his injury is elbow-related. Beyond that, we don't have much to work with.

It is worth noting that Musgrove spent two and a half months on the IL with elbow inflammation and he does have a bone spur in his elbow. Musgrove's arm remained a concern even after his activation, but San Diego was clearly caught off guard by his issue against the Braves as there had been no indication recently that he was dealing with anything.

We'll know more soon — most likely once the game concludes. One hopes that it was just a flare-up and not a more serious problem, but it is abundantly clear right now that Musgrove's availability for future playoff series in 2024 is extremely unclear.

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