Starting pitchers Max Fried and Joe Musgrove exit early with injuries in Braves-Padres playoff game

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Atlanta Braves left-hander Max Fried and San Diego Padres right-hander Joe Musgrove exited early because of injuries Wednesday night in Game 2 of their NL Wild Card Series.

Fried, who can become a free agent after the World Series, was done after two innings in what could be his final start for Atlanta. He was hit on his left hip by a comebacker from Fernando Tatis Jr. two batters into his outing.

Fried stayed in and escaped a bases-loaded jam in the first, but then allowed five runs on six straight hits with two outs in the second.

“It was his hip,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “As the inning wore on it affected him. The longer he was out there, the worse he got.”

Dylan Lee took over to begin the third inning, but the damage was done. Atlanta's comeback fell short and the banged-up Braves were eliminated as the Padres completed a two-game sweep with a 5-4 victory.

Musgrove threw two slow curveballs to fall behind 2-1 on Matt Olson with two outs in the fourth and was visited by pitching coach Ruben Niebla. Padres manager Mike Shildt and an athletic trainer joined them, and Musgrove came out.

The team announced he had right elbow tightness.

Musgrove said it was “frustrating. I want to be out there and finish the job. This is the last thing I want in my first postseason outing, but that’s just the reality of it. It’s coming at a bad time, but I’ll address it, I’ll find the best possible path to get back and do my best to get back here as soon as I can.”

Musgrove participated in both the on-field celebration and the wild clubhouse party afterward. His status for the remainder of the postseason is unclear, including the best-of-five Division Series against the rival Dodgers that begins Saturday in Los Angeles.

“If you’re not a pitcher, it’s very difficult to explain. I just had a hard time getting to full extension and letting pitches go,” Musgrove said. “There wasn’t a whole lot of confidence behind it. I had two outs in the inning. I was hoping to be able to get through the inning and then address it in between, but I didn’t make it to that point.”

Musgrove, who grew up in suburban El Cajon, had two stints on the injured list with right elbow inflammation this season, costing him a total of 63 games. His second stint sidelined him for 2 1/2 months.

“It would be irresponsible to get too deep into this,” Shildt said. “He said he was going to do everything he can — I put nothing past Joe Musgrove — to be able to come back.

“Something just didn’t feel right in his elbow. Structurally they feel it is OK, but we’ll get more evaluations as we go.”

Musgrove threw the first no-hitter in Padres history on April 9, 2021, in his second start with his hometown team after being obtained in an offseason trade with Pittsburgh.

Fried was a first-round draft pick of the Padres in 2012. He was traded to Atlanta in a six-player deal in December 2014. He made his big league on Aug. 8, 2017. He started and won the clinching Game 6 of the 2021 World Series against Houston.

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San Diego Padres starting pitcher Joe Musgrove throws to an Atlanta Braves batter during the first inning in Game 2 of an NL Wild Card Series baseball game Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

San Diego Padres starting pitcher Joe Musgrove exits the game during the fourth inning in Game 2 of an NL Wild Card Series baseball game against the Atlanta Braves, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Max Fried throws to a San Diego Padres batter during the first inning in Game 2 of an NL Wild Card Series baseball game Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

HONG KONG (AP) — Fireworks are typically a celebratory centerpiece of Hong Kong's New Year celebrations. Not this year.

The territory will ring in 2026 without spectacular and colorful explosions in the sky over its iconic Victoria Harbor after a massive fire in November that killed at least 161 people.

The city’s tourism board will instead host a music show Wednesday night featuring soft rock duo Air Supply and other singers in Central, a business district that also is home to the famous nightlife hub Lan Kwai Fong. The facades of eight landmarks will turn into giant countdown clocks presenting a three-minute light show at midnight.

Fireworks have long been part of the city’s celebrations for the New Year, Lunar New Year and National Day. The pyrotechnic displays against Hong Kong’s world-famous skyline of skyscrapers typically draw hundreds of thousands of people including many tourists to both sides of the promenade.

Rosanna Law, the territory's secretary for culture, sports and tourism, acknowledged Tuesday that having no fireworks would affect some hotel and restaurant businesses.

The financial hub’s worst blaze since 1948 broke out at Wang Fuk Court, in the northern suburban district of Tai Po, in late November. The apartment complex was undergoing a monthslong renovation project with buildings covered by bamboo scaffolding and green netting.

Authorities have pointed to the substandard netting and foam boards installed on windows as contributing factors in the fire’s rapid spread. Thousands of affected residents have moved to transitional homes, hotels and youth hostels, struggling to recover from the loss of lives and homes that took them years to buy. The casualties pained many residents across the city.

Past tragedies in Hong Kong have forced similar cancellations of fireworks. They include the 2013 National Day festivities following a vessel collision that killed 39 people on Oct. 1, 2012, and the 2018 Lunar New Year celebration after a bus crash that left 19 dead. During the 2019 anti-government protests and the COVID-19 pandemic, multiple displays also were scrapped.

The origin of fireworks is believed to date to China in the second century B.C., when someone discovered bamboo stalks exploded with loud bangs when thrown into fire, creating the first natural “firecrackers,” according to the American Pyrotechnics Association, a U.S. trade group.

The Guinness World Records organization says the first accurately documented firework, the Chinese firecracker, was created by Li Tian, a monk from China’s Tang dynasty dating to around 618 to 907 C.E. Li discovered that putting gunpowder in enclosed hollow bamboo stems created loud explosions and bound crackers together to create the traditional New Year firecrackers to drive out evil spirits, Guinness said.

People gather at Lan Kwai Fong to celebrate the start of 2026 in the Central district of Hong Kong, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Chan Long Hei)

People attend the New Year countdown event to celebrate the start of 2026 in the Central district of Hong Kong, on Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Chan Long Hei)

People take selfies at Lan Kwai Fong to celebrate the start of 2026 in the Central district of Hong Kong, on Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Chan Long Hei)

People pose for photographs at Lan Kwai Fong to celebrate the start of 2026 in the Central district of Hong Kong, on Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Chan Long Hei)

FILE - Fireworks explode over Victoria Harbour to celebrate the start of 2025 at Tsim Sha Tsui in Hong Kong, Jan. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Chan Long Hei, File)