RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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See the full story · 1 sourcesPHOENIX — Casey Mize was offered plenty of excuses for the worst outing of his career Wednesday night in his San Diego Padres debut.
There was the disruption of his life after being traded from Detroit to San Diego .
There were the goodbyes from his old Tigers teammates and introductions to new Padres teammates.
There was making his first National League start at Chase Field in Arizona with the high altitude and dry air.
Mize heard all of the alibis, and batted away every single one of them.
“Pretty tough time to have the worst start of my career, you know?’’ Mize said after the Padres’ 10-4 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks . “Kind of put us in a really tough spot and (without) a chance to win.’’
Everything was going OK the first couple of innings, but the Diamondbacks scored two runs in the third inning, including a Tim Tawa home run, and in the fourth, everything unraveled. Mize gave up five consecutive hits, a walk, and departed with the bases loaded. When the inning mercifully ended, the Diamondbacks had scored six more runs.
“Obviously, throughout the outing, I could definitely tell that I was just off, not being able to execute,’’ Mize said. “I knew it was going to be a bit of a grind, and then it obviously snowballed on me there.’’
Mize’s final line: 3.1 innings, 9 hits, 8 runs, 8 earned runs, 3 walks, 1 strikeout.
It was the most runs Mize has ever permitted in 103 career starts.
“So frustrated by that,’’ Mize said. “It seems like I just couldn’t execute a plan, falling behind in the counts, things were kind of elevated, and even when I got some good counts, I just couldn’t get below the zone, so they got a barrel on the ball.
“I was looking for that swing and miss.’’
Mize got only two of them the entire night, throwing 77 pitches, just 47 for strikes.
It’s hardly what the Padres envisioned when they acquired Mize just before the expiration of the trade deadline Monday, to help rescue them in this wild-card race. This is a guy who yielded a 2.70 ERA with 85 strikeouts and 18 walks in 16 starts, yielding one or no runs in nine of the starts. He had the fifth-lowest ERA among all American League pitchers who made at least 15 starts, with the fourth-lowest opponent’s OPS (.569).
He looked nothing like that guy this night.
“Probably the 11 days off from pitching, being out of his routine, traveling, all that kind of stuff,’’ Padres manager Craig Stammen said. “A lot going on. New team. … And Arizona’s not the easiest place to pitch, either.’’
Sorry, but Mize didn’t want to hear it.
He took full accountability.
“I’m not going to make any excuses, man,’’ said Mize, who threw just two bullpen sessions in the last 11 days. “I need to pitch better. We need to win. Pretty frustrating for me.’’
The Padres (59-56), who also picked up San Francisco Giants starter Robbie Ray at the trade deadline, now trail the Diamondbacks by two games in the wild-card race, but insist they’re not worried. Stammen says they have battled back all year, so there’s no reason to believe they won’t continue to be resilient.
There are still 47 games remaining, and Mize and Ray are expected to make at least 16 starts.
“I know once he gets back into his five-day routine,’’ Stammen said, “he’ll be back to normal and the guy that we traded for. I know the next time will be better.’’
Mize knows it, too.
And, just in case he needed a little confidence boost, it just so happens that his best friend in baseball landed in Phoenix on Wednesday night, and they made plans to get together at his Scottsdale home for lunch.
Two-time Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal , who was traded two days before Mize, landed with his Dodgers teammates Wednesday night from Chicago. They’ll have an off-day Thursday before their three-game weekend series against the Diamondbacks.
“It’s going to be so nice to see him again,’’ Mize said, “just to catch up. Really, I can’t wait.’’
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: What's next for Padres' Casey Mize after worst start of his career? Lunch with Tarik Skubal
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