Casey Mize exits Padres’ start in 3rd inning with ankle injury

SAN DIEGO — Casey Mize’s fourth start as a member of the Padres ended concerningly early.

Mize suffered a right ankle sprain and walked off the mound with a trainer after 2 2/3 innings against the Twins on Saturday night. Mize appeared to be favoring his foot while warming up prior to the third inning and was checked by manager Craig Stammen and head trainer Mark Rogow.

Mize stayed in the game and retired two batters before serving up a hard double to Ryan Jeffers. Stammen and Rogow returned to the mound after that at-bat, and Mize walked off alongside Rogow.

Mize’s final three fastballs against Jeffers were all 91 mph, more than two mph below his season average.

He was replaced by left-hander Kyle Hart.

The Twins belted three home runs in the first nine batters against Mize, whose velocity was down across the board.

Luke Keaschall led off the game with a home run that traveled a Statcast-projected 396 feet into the left-field bleachers.

Brooks Lee and Kaelen Culpepper piled on with back-to-back homers in the second inning. Lee drove an outside fastball the other way over the left-field fence, and on the very next pitch, Culpepper launched an elevated fastball a projected 400 feet into the second deck in left field.

Mize’s velocity on his fastball, slider, sinker and slurve were all at least 1.5 mph below his season averages. His velocity on his splitter was nearly 1 mph below his season average.