Musgrove goes 6 innings as Padres hand Giants their 3rd straight shutout in 8-0 win

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Joe Musgrove struck out eight in six innings, Manny Machado and Jackson Merrill both drove in two runs and the San Diego Padres beat San Francisco 8-0 on Saturday night to hand the Giants their third straight shutout.

Donovan Solano had four of San Diego's 17 hits and Xander Bogaerts homered for the Padres, who hold the top National League wild card. They clawed within 3 1/2 games of the first-place Dodgers — who have lost four of five — in the NL West.

Musgrove said the Padres are “chasing right down their backs right now.”

“We’re playing really good baseball,” he said. “Our confidence is high. The approach is right on both sides of the baseball. So I think we’re in a really good spot to make a push at this thing.”

The Giants have lost four of five. They've been shut out in three consecutive games for the first time since 1992 and just the fourth time in the San Francisco era (since 1958).

Frustrated manager Bob Melvin said his team is focused, running hard down the line and preparing for games, but “it just looks awful when you’re not hitting and you’re playing awful defense.”

He added the Giants did not display “major league quality” on Saturday.

“It’s the big leagues,” Melvin said. “It looks like the instructional league at times.”

San Francisco has only 14 hits over the last three games, and is the first MLB team to be blanked in three straight games this season.

“I feel like every team struggles, but not this bad,” second-place hitter Heliot Ramos said. “We’ve got to be better as a team and individually as well.”

Luis Arráez extended his streak to 135 at-bats without a strikeout for the Padres. It’s the longest since Juan Pierre went 147 at-bats without a strikeout in 2004.

Before the game, Melvin said the approach to pitching to Arráez is “carefully, and hope he hits it at somebody.”

“The issue is what you've got coming behind him,” Melvin said. “So, you just have to deal with him and try to make good pitches on him."

Musgrove (6-5) rebounded after allowing six runs in a loss to the Giants last week, holding San Francisco to three hits without a walk this time.

Giants starter Mason Black (0-4) yielded two runs and six hits in four innings, losing to the Padres for the second consecutive start.

“It’s just been, continue to attack,” Black said of what he's learned from facing San Diego twice in a row. “It’s almost like I just want to go out there, prove to myself and see what I can do and let them hit the ball."

After Black exited, the Padres gave Musgrove a 5-0 cushion with a three-run sixth against Sean Hjelle. Arráez had a two-out RBI single, also extending his hitting streak to 12 games. Later in the inning, Machado drove in two runs with a bases-loaded single. San Diego added three more in the eighth, including a two-run double by Merrill.

Padres manager Mike Shildt said having Solano, who entered the game batting .288, hitting eighth is a testament to the strength of San Diego's lineup.

“Sometimes you look to the bottom as a breather, and there’s no breathers at the bottom of our lineup,” Shildt said. “Having Donovan Solano — if he’s down there hitting eight for us — says quite a lot about the length of our lineup.”

Machado gave the Padres an early lead with a double that scored Jurickson Profar from first after an error by Ramos on his throw from center field. Bogaerts’ homer in the fourth made it 2-0.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Padres: INF Ha-Seong Kim (right shoulder inflammation) played light catch and plans to ramp up his throwing intensity in the next few days. … LHP Martin Pérez, the scheduled starter Sunday, was reinstated from the paternity list. LHP Tom Cosgrove was optioned to Triple-A El Paso.

Giants: INF Tyler Fitzgerald (lower back tightness) could return as soon as Tuesday after an MRI revealed no structural damage. … RHP Jordan Hicks (right shoulder inflammation) was reinstated from the injured list, and RHP Austin Warren was optioned to Triple-A Sacramento. … LHP Robbie Ray (left hamstring strain) threw a bullpen.

UP NEXT

Giants RHP Landen Roupp (0-1, 3.44 ERA) starts Sunday in the series finale opposite Pérez (4-5, 4.46).

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

San Francisco Giants pitcher Mason Black reacts on the mound during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the San Diego Padres in San Francisco, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

San Diego Padres' Luis Arraez, left, scores past San Francisco Giants catcher Patrick Bailey during the eighth inning of a baseball game in San Francisco, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

San Diego Padres' Donovan Solano (39) celebrates with third baseman Tyler Wade after the Padres defeated the San Francisco Giants in a baseball game in San Francisco, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

San Francisco Giants' Matt Chapman, left, hitting coach Pat Burrell, second from left, Patrick Bailey, middle, and Mike Yastrzemski, right, watch from the dugout during the eighth inning of a baseball game against the San Diego Padres in San Francisco, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

San Francisco Giants manager Bob Melvin, left, takes the ball from pitcher Jordan Hicks, right, during a pitching change in the eighth inning of a baseball game against the San Diego Padres in San Francisco, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

San Diego Padres' Luis Arraez runs to first base on his RBI single during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the San Francisco Giants in San Francisco, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

San Diego Padres pitcher Alek Jacob, left, celebrates with right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr. after the Padres defeated the San Francisco Giants in a baseball game in San Francisco, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

San Diego Padres' Manny Machado, right, gestures next to San Francisco Giants second baseman Marco Luciano, left, while advancing to second base after hitting a two-run single during the sixth inning of a baseball game in San Francisco, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

San Diego Padres' Donovan Solano gestures after hitting a double against the San Francisco Giants during the seventh inning of a baseball game in San Francisco, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

San Diego Padres pitcher Joe Musgrove works against the San Francisco Giants during the first inning of a baseball game in San Francisco, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — President Donald Trump's nominee to oversee an agency that manages a quarter-billion acres of public land has withdrawn her nomination following revelations that she criticized the Republican president in 2021 for inciting the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

The withdrawal of Kathleen Sgamma to lead the Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management was announced Thursday morning at the start of her confirmation hearing before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

David Bernhardt, who served as interior secretary in Trump’s first term, said on X that Sgamma’s withdrawal was “self-inflicted” and he included a link to a website that posted her 2021 comments. He suggested that people whose views don’t align with Trump’s should not seek political appointments in his administration.

“I am disgusted by the violence witnessed yesterday and President Trump’s role in spreading misinformation that incited it,” Sgamma said in the comments earlier reported by Documented, which describes itself as a watchdog journalism project.

Sgamma confirmed her withdrawal on LinkedIn and said it was an honor to have been nominated.

“I remain committed to President Trump and his unleashing American energy agenda and ensuring multiple-use access for all,” said Sgamma. Since 2006 she's been with the Denver-based Western Energy Alliance, an oil industry trade group, and has been a vocal critic of the energy policies of Democratic administrations.

The longtime oil and gas industry representative appeared well-poised to carry out Trump's plans to roll back restrictions on energy development, including in Western states where the land bureau has vast holdings. The agency also oversees mining, grazing and recreation.

Sgamma's withdrawal underscored the Trump administration's creation of a “loyalty test” to weed out subordinates who are out of step with him, said Aaron Weiss, deputy director of the left-leaning Center for Western Priorities.

“That’s the world we're in — if that’s what happened — where being sane and acknowledging reality with the White House is enough to sink a nomination,” he said.

Trump has been testing how far Republicans are willing to go in supporting his supercharged “Make America Great Again” agenda. Few Republicans have criticized Trump after his sweeping pardons of supporters, including violent rioters, charged in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

Most congressional Republicans have played down the potential negative impact of Trump’s actions, including widespread tariffs on U.S. allies, and have stressed the importance of uniting behind him.

The Bureau of Land Management plays a central role in a long-running debate over the best use of government-owned lands, and its policies have swung sharply as control of the White House has shifted between Republicans and Democrats. Under President Joe Biden, a Democrat, it curbed oil drilling and coal mining on federal lands while expanding renewable power. The agency under Biden also moved to put conservation on more equal footing with oil drilling and other extractive industries in a bid to address climate change.

Trump is reversing the land bureau's course yet again.

On Thursday, officials announced that they will not comprehensively analyze environmental impacts from oil and gas leases on a combined 5,500 square miles (14,100 square kilometers) of bureau land in Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming. The leases were sold to companies between 2015 and 2020 but have been tied up by legal challenges.

Also this week, Trump signed an executive order aimed at boosting coal production. That will end the Biden administration's ban on new federal coal sales on bureau lands in Wyoming and Montana, the nation's largest coal fields.

The land bureau had about 10,000 employees at the start of Trump’s second term, but at least 800 employees have been laid off or resigned amid efforts by the Trump administration to downsize the federal workforce.

It went four years without a confirmed director during Trump's first term. Trump also moved the agency’s headquarters to Colorado before it was returned to Washington, D.C., under Biden.

Sgamma's withdrawal was announced by Senate energy committee Chairman Mike Lee of Utah. The Republican said he would work with the administration to find a new nominee for the bureau.

"Its work directly impacts millions of Americans — especially in the West — and its leadership matters," Lee said.

Utah officials last year launched a legal effort to wrest control of Bureau of Land Management property from the federal government and put it under state control. They were turned down by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Daly reported from Washington, D.C.

FILE - Kathleen Sgamma, President, Western Energy Alliance, speaks during a House Committee on Natural Resources hearing on America's Energy and Mineral potential, Feb. 8, 2023, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib, File)