Padres’ Casey Mize exits Twins clash with ankle injury

San Diego Padres right-hander Casey Mize left Saturday night’s game against the Minnesota Twins after suffering a sprained right ankle, ending his start with two outs in the third inning.

Mize appeared to injure himself after slipping on the dugout steps following the second inning and landing awkwardly on his right foot. He was checked by Padres manager Craig Stammen and a team athletic trainer before the third inning. After throwing additional warmup pitches, Mize was allowed to continue, but his first pitch of the inning was an 88.4 mph sinker, which was the slowest fastball of his career.

Mize retired the first two batters before Ryan Jeffers doubled to left field. Stammen then returned to the mound with the trainer and removed the right-hander, with Kyle Hart taking over.

The outing ended with Mize allowing four hits and four earned runs over 2 2/3 innings. He walked one and logged no strikeouts while surrendering three solo home runs. Luke Keaschall opened the scoring with a homer before Brooks Lee and rookie Kaelen Culpepper hit consecutive home runs with two outs in the second inning. Hart then allowed an RBI single to Kody Clemens, giving Minnesota a 4-1 advantage.

The injury comes after Mize had shown improvement in his previous two starts. Before Saturday, he had given up only two runs across his last 12 innings. His San Diego debut on Aug. 5 was much worse, as he surrendered eight runs in 3 1/3 innings.

Mize, acquired from the Detroit Tigers on Aug. 3, entered the night with 20 starts this season and a 3.44 ERA, 95 strikeouts and 26 walks in 104 2/3 innings. Through four appearances with the Padres, however, he had a 7.00 ERA.

Mize previously missed time this season because of a right adductor strain and later inflammation in the same area.

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