Brian Kenny went on MLB Network and accused Joe Musgrove of cheating

A day after Game 3 of the San Diego Padres-New York Mets Wild Card Series, Brian Kenny appeared on MLB Network and accused pitcher Joe Musgrove of cheating.

Given that Game 3 of the Wild Card Series between the San Diego Padres and New York Mets was the only baseball game on on Sunday night, there was a lot of attention on it. On Twitter, there were fans who pointed out that Padres pitcher Joe Musgrove’s ears looked shiny, and pondered if it was a substance. Mets manager Buck Showalter asked the umpires to check Musgrove’s ears in the sixth inning, and after an inspection, they determined that there was no illegal substance on him.

That led to another debate for MLB.

On MLB Network, Brian Kenny spent an entire 12-minute segment looking at Musgrove’s spin rate numbers. That segment was titled “Up to No Good?” Kenny cited the drop in spin rates after MLB cracked down on sticky substances midway through the 2021 season, and Musgrove’s spin rate numbers from Game 3 against the Mets compared to his numbers throughout the entire season.

You can listen to Kenny’s full comments in the segment in the YouTube video below that was uploaded by user “Mr. Prank.”

Brian Kenny accuses Padres pitcher Joe Musgrove of cheating in Game 3 vs. Mets

Paul Hembekides of ESPN’s “Get Up” tweeted out on Monday afternoon that Musgrove’s spin rate was 5.7-percent higher than it was throughout the regular season, but pointed out that spin rate league-wide increased by 5.5-percent in the postseason as compared to the regular-season.

Kenny also appeared on MLB Network’s program “High Heat” with Chris Russo. When asked if he believed that Musgrove cheated, Kenny simply said “yeah.” The clip from his appearance can be found below, courtesy of Twitter user “@kennyhyde007.”

“If you’re saying what’s the greatest leap of faith, the greater leap of faith is to believe he wasn’t using any stuff,” said Kenny. “And when he was asked after the game last night and they said ‘Hey, what did they find on you? What’s on your ears?’ And he said ‘Oh I don’t know, they didn’t find anything.’ How about ‘there’s nothing on my ears?'”

Musgrove did take exception to the inspection by Showalter in the sixth inning. After he struck out Tomas Nido, Musgrove looked towards New York’s dugout and wiped his nose in their direction. As he walked off the mound, he also flicked his right ear.

In seven innings of work, Musgrove struck out five batters, allowed just one hit  and did not yield a single run in the 6-0 win.

Musgrove spoke to the media after the game, saying that he felt Showalter asked for the inspection as a “last attempt” to get him out of the game. He also said that the Mets “better be very confident” that no one is using anything on the team You can listen to Musgrove’s comments in SNY’s tweet below, which also includes the transcribed quote.

After the game, Padres manager Bob Melvin defended Musgrove’s character. Melvin’s comments come in the tweet below, courtesy of SNY.

“I tend to be a high road guy, and I’m going to, but the problem I have is Joe Musgrove is a man of character,” said Melvin. “Questioning his character to me, that’s the part I have a problem with. And I’m here to tell everybody that Joe Musgrove is above board as any pitcher I know, any player I know. And unfortunately that happened to him, because the reception he got after that was not warranted.”

The umpires checked to see if Musgrove did have any sticky substance not just on his ear, but also his hat and glove. They found nothing, and he continued to pitch.