Padres 5, Guardians 0: Four Homers, Mize's First San Diego Win

August 16, 2026 - Cleveland - First pitch waited 3 hours and 11 minutes. Then Luis Rengifo hit the first pitch he really wanted, Gavin Sheets hit the next one five pitches later, and the rain delay turned into a 5-0 win the San Diego Padres never let the Cleveland Guardians into.

Casey Mize (5-7) threw six scoreless innings, three hits, one walk, three strikeouts. First win in a San Diego uniform. Third start since Detroit sent him over at the deadline. Progressive Field had already emptied some of the 24,708 who waited through the storm. The ones who stayed watched four homers and three Cleveland hits, none after the fourth.

Back-to-back before the second inning could breathe

Tanner Bibee (4-13) retired the first five Padres. Then he left a sinker up to Rengifo. 409 feet to center. 1-0. Five pitches later, Sheets got a changeup and dropped it just over the wall in right, 367 feet. 2-0. First time San Diego had gone back-to-back since last April.

That was the game, basically. Cleveland never caught up. José Ramírez had two of the three hits and got thrown out trying to steal in the first. The Guardians did not get another hit after the fourth. Mize faced traffic and walked through it. Bibee lasted six and gave up three runs. The deficit never moved back.

Jackson Merrill scored in the fourth on Xander Bogaerts's single to center. 3-0. Three runs, two of them homers, one of them a single. Mize still had a shutout. The bullpen still had a clean ninth to protect.

Bowen comes in to catch, then to hit

Jase Bowen entered as a defensive replacement in the sixth. He made a diving catch on Angel Martínez. He made another on Nathaniel Lowe in the seventh. Then he homered to right in the eighth, 366 feet, his first of the year. 4-0. The defensive sub who took away two hits also supplied the fourth run.

Jake Cronenworth finished it in the ninth, 403 feet to right-center. 5-0. Fourth Padres homer. Sixth time this season San Diego has hit at least four in a game. Rengifo, Sheets, Bowen, Cronenworth. No Fernando Tatis Jr. blast required. No Manny Machado rally. The middle and the bench did it after a rain delay that lasted longer than some games.

Line: Padres 5 runs on 10 hits, 4 homers; Guardians 0 runs on 3 hits; Mize 6 IP, 0 ER.

Mize threw 86 pitches. He did not need a seventh. Jeremiah Estrada, Yuki Matsui, and Adrian Morejon finished the last three. Cleveland's only loud contact after the fourth died in Bowen's glove.

A series win on the other side of a storm

San Diego took two of three. The Padres are 6-0-1 in their last seven series and 17-5 since July 24, best mark in the majors over that stretch. They fly to New York next, Walker Buehler on Monday against the Mets. Cleveland has dropped five straight series and is 4-11 since July 31. Foster Griffin starts Tuesday against the Giants.

The weekend itself was a split personality. San Diego won 7-5 on Friday. Cleveland answered 6-1 on Saturday and snapped a Padres winning streak. Sunday's rain turned a 1:40 start into a 4:51 first pitch. The crowd that stayed through 3 hours and 11 minutes of weather then watched a shutout. Game time after the delay was 2:42. Progressive Field listed 24,708. Ramírez's two hits were the loudest Cleveland got. The rest of the order went quietly after the fourth.

Bibee will get another turn. Ramírez will get another stolen-base jump. The Guardians cannot keep playing 3-hit nights after three-hour delays and call it a blip. Mize, acquired to start games like this, just threw the first Padres win of his new life. Six zeros. Three hits. The homers behind him did the rest.

I would not turn four solo shots into a new identity for San Diego. I would take the 5-0 and the series and the starter who finally has a W in the other uniform. The rain delay was the longest wait of the afternoon. The game, once it started, was not close.

AthX Engine angle

Mize scored 21 AthX Engine pitching fantasy points, fourth on Sunday's slate. The Padres finished with 13 team fantasy points. Rengifo, Sheets, Bowen, and Cronenworth each scored in the 5-to-6 range on the homers. AthX Engine (our projection and scoring system) graded the shutout more than any single swing. Fantasy points measure the night. Price is what the market pays tomorrow.

Explore the AthX marketplace for current player pages.

*Sources: ESPN box score, MLB.com gameday, AP News, AthX Engine daily scoring for August 16, 2026. AthX Engine fantasy scoring is for information only and is not financial advice.*