October 6th, 2020.
That was the last time Mike Clevinger pitched in a Major League Baseball game, until Wednesday.
Clevinger made his return from Tommy John surgery on his right elbow to throw 95 pitches in 4.2 innings, striking out 4 Guardian batters and allowing just 1 run.
After the game and the long road back to the big league's, Clevinger had a hard time controlling his emotions.
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"I wasn't sure I was going to pitch again," Clevinger said, his voice cracking as he became choked up. "So this is big."
Clevinger was pulled from the game just an out away from potentially getting a win.
The Padres used an 8th inning Austin Nola RBI double to take a 4-3 lead before tacking on another run in an eventual 5-4 win in the first game of the doubleheader.
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Manny Machado hit his 5th home run of the season in the first game.
The second game was a different story.
After MacKenzie Gore pitched 5.2 innings and allowed only 1 run, the Padres bullpen gave up the lead by allowing 4 runs in the 7th and 8th innings.
The Guardians rally forced extra innings and in the 10th, Cleveland won on a walk-off RBI single by Steve Kwan that scored former Padre Owen Miller with the winning run.
The Padres finished an 8 game road trip with a 6-2 record and now head home for a 4-game series against the Marlins at Petco Park starting Thursday.
