When the San Diego Padres traded for Casey Mize from the Detroit Tigers on Monday, they were hoping he'd give their rotation a boost.
Unfortunately, his Padres debut was anything but, as he simply didn't have it.
Mize endured one of the worst starts of his career on Wednesday, getting torched by the Arizona Diamondbacks for eight runs on nine hits and three walks in 3 1/3 innings at Chase Field. By comparison, he'd allowed eight runs over his previous four starts combined.
The Diamondbacks are good and Arizona is a tough place to pitch, but Mize made no excuses after San Diego's 10-4 loss spiked his season ERA from 2.70 to 3.40.
“Not the first impression I wanted to make for my teammates and for the fans,” Mize told MLB.com. “Pretty tough time to have the worst start of my career. I just put us in a really tough spot, didn't give us a chance to win. So, frustrated and embarrassed by that.”
With the Padres battling for a playoff spot, they can't afford many more duds like that. Mize will try to bounce back in his next start against the Milwaukee Brewers at home early next week.
