Joe Musgrove exits with elbow tightness as Padres advance past Braves

SAN DIEGO — The Padres might have to do this without Joe Musgrove.

Wednesday’s victory over the Braves punched the Padres' ticket to the NLDS against the Dodgers, but Musgrove walking off the mound in the fourth inning with right elbow tightness was sure to cast a shadow on the ensuing celebration.

ESPN’s broadcast showed Musgrove shaking his right arm at one point in the fourth inning as his velocity dipped.

Musgrove was on the injured list twice this season with elbow issues stemming from bone spurs.

He returned to the rotation in August after more than two months off and had a 2.15 ERA in nine starts leading into Wednesday’s start against the Atlanta Braves. The second ramp-up included more than a month of rest, a PRP injection and a delivery overhaul aimed at taking stress off the elbow.

“In the past I’ve had injuries and come back and I’ve tried to do a little too much with a small pitch count,” Musgrove said Tuesday afternoon, “and ended up not getting the progression work that I needed because I was so focused on getting deep into the game and being as efficient as possible that I didn’t use my pitches in a fashion that I typically would and I didn’t prepare them properly.

“I’ve always been a kind of cross-that-bridge-when-we-get-there kind of guy with my rehab as well.”

Musgrove allowed a run in the first inning — Michael Harris II doubled to lead off the game and scored on a sacrifice fly — but hadn’t allowed a baserunner after the first, piling up four strikeouts as the Padres rallied to give him a lead.

He struck out Ozzie Albies to start the fourth on an at-bat that began with a 94-mph four-seamer. The four-seamer before Marcell Ozuna’s groundout dropped to 92 mph. After floating two mid-70s curves into Matt Olson, a pitch that was clocking in at 82 mph earlier in the game, catcher Kyle Higashioka called timeout for a mound visit.

Pitching coach Ruben Niebla joined them. Padres manager Mike Shildt and athletic trainer Ben Fraser followed.

After a long talk on the mound with the infielders crowded around, Shildt patted Musgrove on the “PS” heart on his jersey as he walked off the mound Fraser with his glove in his right hand.