Subscribe
Follow Us
The San Diego Padres are locked in an intense battle with the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLCS, but they're doing it without two of their top contributors. Musgrove injured his elbow in the Padres' Wild Card series against the Atlanta Braves, and Kim has been out since the middle of August with a shoulder injury.
As the Padres prepared for their win-or-go-home Game 5 in Los Angeles, both Kim and Musgrove underwent surgery for their injuries, according to Dennis Lin of The Athletic.
“Ha-Seong Kim underwent his shoulder surgery yesterday with Dr. Neal El Attrache (labrum repair), and Joe Musgrove had his TJ surgery today with Dr. Keith Meister,” Lin reported on X, formerly Twitter.
The Padres have had to make do without Kim's defense at shortstop, instead sliding Xander Bogaerts back to his former position. Musgrove's absence in the rotation has been felt as well, as the Padres were forced to throw Dylan Cease on short rest in Game 4 in San Diego. Cease allowed three earned runs in just 1.2 innings as the Dodgers cruised to a blowout victory.
Padres attempting to rally back after Kiké Hernández home run
Yu Darvish and Yoshinobu Yamamoto are both off to good starts in Game 5, but one swing of the bat has decided things so far. In the bottom of the second inning, Dodgers center fielder Kiké Hernández crushed a solo home run to left field to put the Dodgers ahead 1-0.
Yamamoto has been clinical so far, only allowing a couple of baserunners in the third inning. He was able to get out of the jam by forcing the red-hot bat of Fernando Tatis Jr. to ground into an inning-ending double play. Other than that, the Padres haven't ben able to hit the Dodgers' starter, despite a couple of well-hit flyouts to the warning track.
On the other side, Darvish has also pitched very well other than the one mistake on the home run, but that could be all it takes to lift the Dodgers over the hump and into the NLCS.
The Padres' lineup has been hot in these playoffs, but they have struggled to hit the Dodgers bullpen over the last few games. Either they will have to reverse that trend or get to Yamamoto quickly before Dave Roberts turns to his relievers to try and close out the series. San Diego has the firepower to get it done, but they have put themselves in an early hole with their season on the line.
