ANAHEIM, Calif. — In a stretch of five batters, facing a pitcher who was four outs into his major league career, the Padres got half as many hits Friday night as they had over the previous three games.
By the fifth inning, they had scored as many runs (five) as they had totaled in those three games, and they went on to beat the Los Angeles Angels, 5-0, at Angel Stadium.
Trying to stop a losing streak at four games and win for just the third time in 15 games, the Padres got a gem from starting pitcher Joe Musgrove.
The right-hander became the first Padres pitcher to throw two complete games in a season since Clayton Richard in 2017 as he held the Angels to three singles.
He took the mound to start the eighth inning having thrown 83 pitches, threw 18 more in the eighth and began the ninth at 101. With no one even stretching in the bullpen, Musgrove retired the three batters he faced in the ninth on 10 pitches.
He was already the only Padres pitcher to have gone longer than 7 2/3 innings this season, having done so in his April 9 no-hitter.
The Padres took a 3-0 lead in the second inning against Cooper Criswell, who was called up Friday to make his big-league debut.
He survived Fernando Tatis Jr.’s leadoff double in the first inning by getting three groundouts in succession. But after Austin Nola flied out right field to start to the top of the second, Trent Grisham lined a single to center field, and Ha-seong Kim followed with a single up the middle. Both scored when Jurickson Profar turned on a sinker and sent it bouncing off the right field line and rolling into the corner for a triple.
Jake Marisnick, making his first start since Aug. 8, got his third hit and second RBI since being acquired by the Padres in a July 30 trade with the Cubs, a single through the left side.
Tatis’ single was the last of the hits, all of which were hit at least 99 mph. Tatis was also the last batter Criswell would face.
Left-hander Packy Naughton, who made his big league debut earlier this month before being optioned and then recalled along with Criswell on Friday, replaced him and got Jake Cronenworth and Manny Machado on grounders.
Two errors by Angels shortstop Jose Iglesias helped the Padres to a pair of runs in the fifth inning.
Naughton walked a batter in the third and another in the fourth but did not allow a hit until Machado, serving as the designated hitter Friday night, lined a single to center leading off the fifth inning.
After Eric Hosmer hit a grounder to second that seemed destined to start a double play until shortstop Iglesias bobbled the ball before making an out, Austin Nola singled to left-center to drive in Machado. Grisham followed with another tailor-made double-play grounder, but Iglesias threw wide of first base on the relay, which allowed Hosmer to essentially jog home from third.
The Padres were coming off a three-game series against the Dodgers in which they totaled 11 hits and five runs.
Thursday’s 4-0 loss to the Dodgers was the seventh time in 14 games the Padres had four or fewer hits. That happened just 12 times in the first 115 games. They entered Friday batting .182 over their past 14 games.
They arrived in Anaheim trailing the Reds by two games in the race for the National League’s second (and final) wild-card spot. The Reds beat the Marlins, 6-0, on Friday, so the Padres needed a victory to remain two back with 32 games remaining.
Tatis, who entered the game in a 3-for-32 skid, spoke after Thursday’s game.
“Although you are a really positive guy, this is our work,” he said. “And when we’re not doing good, it’s definitely hard for us to smile, especially in a hard stretch like this. … You kind of go through stretches,” Tatis said. “But definitely we’ve got to find the way, and we’ve got to find the way really quick how to turn that around and now to figure it out as a team and come out and play as we’ve been playing the entire year.”
The Padres loaded the bases with two outs in the top of the sixth when Jake Cronenworth and Machado singled and Mike Mayers, the third Angels pitcher, hit Hosmer. But Nola flied out to right fielder Jo Adell to end the threat.
The Padres finished with 10 hits, the same number they had in the series against the Dodgers.
