SAN FRANCISCO — Joe Musgrove was frustrated with himself, not the offense that provided him with little run support or the shaky defense behind him Sunday at AT&T Park. It didn't matter to him that his hard-luck, six-inning outing was backed by only four hits by the Pirates, either.
While most of what went wrong in a series-splitting, 4-3 loss to the Giants was out of Musgrove's control, he couldn't contain his competitiveness on one defining play, and it made a tough fourth inning even worse. As Musgrove pointed to the dugout for Clint Hurdle to review an out call at first base, Gorkys Hernandez sprinted to third base and scored on a single three pitches later.
"That’s bad on my part," Musgrove said. "I kind of lost track of the game there." His teammates weren't upset about the play, even though it contributed to the Pirates, now 61-58, dropping to 7 1/2 games back in the Central Division and five back in the Wild Card. Instead, they were bragging about the edgy 25-year-old right-hander's competitive streak and frustrated with their inability to score runs for him.
"You didn’t know what he was going to be as a starter, but boy, he’s caught on," Jordy Mercer told DKPittsburghSports.com. "All of us love his demeanor on the mound, his want-to. He’s coming right after guys, and he’s giving it all he’s got."
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