A week from today, Joe Musgrove will take the mound in St. Louis to open the Pirates' 134th season.
Derek Shelton affirmed before the team's workout and scrimmage this afternoon at PNC Park what had been presumed ever since Chris Archer underwent season-ended surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome June 2, that Musgrove would be his opening-day starter. And that had become increasingly obvious once summer camp began, and his scrimmage starts aligned with that date.
"Very excited that he's the guy," Shelton said. "Sat down and talked to him two or three days ago about it. [Pitching coach] Oscar [Marin] and I did. I think he deserves it. He's worked his butt off for it."
This will be Musgrove's first opening-day start. In 2019, he led the Pirates in starts (31), innings (170 1/3) and strikeouts (157) to go with a 4.44 ERA and 1.22 WHIP. The latter two aren't all impressive, but he performed far better down the stretch in his three September starts with a 2.25 ERA, a .207 opponents' batting average and a 1.00 WHIP.
"It’s a big honor to be named one of the 30 guys for opening day," Musgrove said over a Zoom call. "There’s only 30 guys in the world that get to do that every year, and to be one of them’s pretty cool. It’s something that every pitcher wants to experience at least once in their career, and being able to get it going into my fourth year, I hope I can carry it on through the rest of my career.”
The Cardinals will counter Musgrove with right-hander Jack Flaherty, followed the next day by Adam Wainwright.
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