CLEVELAND -- Casey Mize was acquired at the Trade Deadline to bolster the Padres’ erratic rotation. He looked like an ace in his third start with the team on Sunday afternoon.
Mize scattered three hits over six dominant innings and earned his first National League victory as San Diego beat the Guardians, 5-0, in the rubber game of the interleague series at Progressive Field.
The right-hander struck out three, walked one and didn’t allow a runner to get past second base. He also overcame a rain delay -- the Padres’ first of the season -- that pushed the start time back 3 hours, 11 minutes.
“It’s tough to make it through Cleveland without weather issues, and this was a weird one,” Mize said. “Every hour, I would just check in to see what was going on.
“But when I got out there, it felt normal. It felt like the game started right on time for me.”
Luis Rengifo, Gavin Sheets, Jase Bowen and Jake Cronenworth all hit solo homers for San Diego (67-58), which is tied with Philadelphia (67-58) for the second and third NL Wild Card spots.
The Guardians didn’t send more than four batters to the plate in any inning against Mize.
“Casey went out and attacked from pitch one; that’s what he does,” Padres manager Craig Stammen said. “He throws a ton of strikes and tries to keep other teams on their heels.”
It was Mize’s second straight quality outing after a poor debut following his trade from the Tigers. The former of the two games saw him allow a career-high eight runs over 3 1/3 innings in a loss to the Diamondbacks on Aug. 5.
Mize bounced back in a no-decision against the Brewers on Aug. 10, giving up two runs over six frames with six strikeouts. Overall with San Diego, he is 1-2 with a 5.87 ERA.
“After the first game, I was asked if it was an outlier -- and yes it was,” Mize admitted. “I’m certainly settling in more, and the guys gave me some runs early today to get us going.”
Rengifo and Sheets belted back-to-back solo homers in the second, giving the Padres all the offense they needed to win for the 17th time in 22 games since July 24. The surge includes six series wins and one split.
Mize has held Cleveland scoreless in two career starts in its ballpark, covering 13 innings, which frustrated Guardians manager Stephen Vogt. He threw non-fastballs at a 59.3 percent clip, the 13th-highest rate in his career, including the postseason.
“The split was really good, just below the zone, and he was crowding the righties with the sinker,” Vogt said. “He really kept us off-balance. We just couldn’t get anything going.”
San Diego catcher Freddy Fermin said he called upon his experience from watching Mize from the opposing dugout in devising a game plan. A former Royals backup, Fermin spent four years with him in the American League Central.
The Guardians managed one hard-hit ball on 56 total sliders, splitters and sinkers thrown by Mize.
“It’s really cool catching him because I’ve learned that he’s really good and he has good stuff,” said Fermin, who is 1-for-5 with a homer against Mize in his career. “I’ve faced him before. I know what he can do.”
It also was a satisfying day for Northwood, Ohio, native Bowen, who cleared the fence against Tim Herrin in his first at-bat in his home state. A graduate of Toledo Central Catholic High School, he had 60 friends and family members in attendance.
Bowen’s first career road homer went 366 feet to right field. The 25-year-old was playing in the 54th game of his rookie campaign.
“It was so cool, I hit it and hoped it would go out,” he said. “Just a good day all around.”
Bowen entered as a defensive replacement in left field in the sixth inning and made a terrific diving catch on Angel Martinez’s low liner. He took another potential hit away from Nathaniel Lowe in the seventh, just before it touched the grass.
“Good players make managers look great,” Stammen quipped. “It’s cool for Jase. This was a good opportunity for him to close it out. And it’s cool when stories like this happen.”