Joe Musgrove isn’t sure what initially caused his injury, which the Pirates announced on Saturday would prematurely end the pitcher’s season more than a week sooner than expected.
What Musgrove does know is that he initially began feeling the injury, officially diagnosed as a stress reaction of the front of his pelvic bone and abdominal wall muscle strain, during his final pre-All Star break start against the Brewers on July 15.
Taking medicine during the break didn’t cure the pain. And it got progressively worse as the season wore on. If the Pirates were still competing for a Wild Card spot, Musgrove said he’d still be in the rotation. But with the team all but out of the playoff race with eight games remaining, it made sense for him to begin his offseason early, he said in the clubhouse after the Pirates’ win against the Brewers on Saturday. Both of his injuries require six weeks of rest.
“(It) has bothered me, it has affected my delivery a little bit, and with the time-frame given to me, the rest and recovery it’s going to take to get my body back in shape and allow me to start my training through offseason, I think now is the time we need to stop and get myself the proper amount of time to allow myself to prepare for next year,” Musgrove said.
“I think if you’re looking out for next season, in our minds, what we want to accomplish next year, this is the right move for me.”
With his season now done, Musgrove said that while he didn’t accomplish all of his goals, he sees a lot of positives. He missed nearly two months of play, from early April until the end of May, with a right shoulder injury and finishes the season with 6-9 record and ERA of 4.06.
“I don’t think it was a waste of a year by any means,” Musgrove said. “Did a lot of things good this year and I think I learned a lot from the bad things. I don’t feel like it was a waste of year by any means, I think it was beneficial for me to get my feet wet and get back into the starting rotation and try to put somewhat of a full year together as a starter.”
Manager Clint Hurdle said despite any reservations Musgrove may have about his performance this year, he has nothing to be ashamed of. Right-hander Nick Kingham has replaced Musgrove in the rotation.
“With what he’s done, the street cred he’s built up in that room is that he doesn’t have to prove anything to anybody,” Hurdle said. “He’s proved it since he showed up here, what he wants to do and how he goes about his work. A lot of positive things happened this year as well. That part of it, yeah, we would like to see him finish and we would like to finish. That’s not going to happen now, so we have to find a way to move in.”
Cervelli back, Santana to visit doctor
Hurdle said that catcher Francisco Cervelli is feeling better after leaving the sixth inning of Friday’s loss against the Brewers with gastrointestinal discomfort and should be “fit for duty” at Chicago on Monday.
Hurdle is less certain on reliever Edgar Santana, who left Friday’s game with right forearm/elbow discomfort. Santana will see a doctor on Monday morning.
Pirates clinch winning record against NL Central
With Saturday’s 3-0 win against the Brewers, the Pirates improved to 39-29 against the NL Central — securing a winning record against the division for only the second time in program history, and first since 2013.
“We set out a bunch of markers before the season started, [and] this was one of them,” Hurdle said. “This one was successfully accomplished. We played better. Cincinnati and Milwaukee, sometimes have been problematic. ... Chicago’s been a really good team in the division for a while, we looked to improve our record there. Overall, we’ve played better within our division.”
Omari Sankofa II: osankofa@post-gazette.com and Twitter @omarisankofa.
First Published: September 23, 2018, 5:29 p.m.
