The San Diego Padres shored up their starting rotation at the trade deadline on Monday, acquiring left-hander Robbie Ray from the San Francisco Giants and right-hander Casey Mize from the Detroit Tigers.
The Padres, while 11 games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League West, have gone 8-2 in their past 10 games and have surged back into contention in the wild-card race, just one game out of the final spot.
San Diego, which also got third baseman Gage Workman from the Tigers, approached this trade deadline with a desperate need for starting pitching as its rotation has posted a 4.66 ERA -- fourth-highest in the major leagues.
Padres president A.J. Preller and general manager Craig Stammen only gave up prospects in return. Joniel Hernandez and Miguel Mendez to the Giants and Kash Mayfield to the Tigers.
Outside of Michael King, the Padres don't have any starting pitchers they can count on going deep into games, prompting the team to implement a high-wire bullpen act on most nights.
The Padres are hopeful of getting Joe Musgrove and Nick Pivetta back eventually from the injured list, but they still have several steps to clear before rejoining the rotation.
San Diego has had 14 total starts by a left-hander this season, which is fourth fewest in the majors. None of those qualified as a quality start. Ray, meanwhile, has nine quality starts -- and five in his last seven outings.
In his five June starts, Ray went 4-0 with a 1.36 ERA and 0.88 WHIP in 33 innings. He also had 23 strikeouts, allowed just 17 hits and held opposing batters to a .149 average.
He stayed hot throughout July, going 3-0 with a 2.00 ERA and 1.51 WHIP over five starts, with 25 strikeouts in 27 innings.
The left-hander, 34, who won the 2021 American League Cy Young Award with the Toronto Blue Jays, has faced some weak lineups over that stretch but has allowed just one home run in 49⅓ innings. There also is a big home/away split, with Ray posting a 2.22 ERA and a .193 batting average against at Oracle Park but a 4.06 ERA and .263 batting average against on the road.
Ray still walks too many batters -- his wak rate is 11.1%, which is third-highest among qualified starters -- and his strikeout rate is dropping. He's also generally much more vulnerable to right-handed batters (14 of his 15 home runs have come against righties), but he has consistently provided dependable innings since returning from Tommy John surgery in 2024.
In 13 major league seasons since 2014, Ray has a 98-87 record with a 3.87 ERA and 1,841 strikeouts in 1,563⅔ innings with the Tigers, Diamondbacks, Blue Jays, Mariners and Giants.
Mize, meanwhile, is having a breakthrough season, but the 29-year-old right-hander continues to be interrupted by health issues and is scheduled to become a free agent after this season. He is 4-6 with a 2.70 ERA, 85 strikeouts and a 0.99 WHIP, ranking in the top 10 percent in walk percentage (5.6%), but has pitched only 86 2/3 innings while twice hitting the IL with a strained groin.
His fastball velocity (93.5 mph) is the lowest of his big league career, but he has four above-average pitches (fastball, cutter, sweeper, splitter) that are all performing (via runs value) as at least average pitches. The improvement this year was limiting damage on his fastball/splitter by staying on the fringes of the zone and juicing whiffs on the cutter by tunneling with the fastball.
Despite a very low groundball rate, he has allowed just five home runs. Four of the five homers he has allowed have come on the road, but he has had all of his pitches working while allowing batters a .593 OPS in 2026. That's the 10th-lowest mark among pitchers with at least 80 innings -- three points better than former Tigers teammate Tarik Skubal.
In his first start after the break, Mize left after just 3 1/3 innings after he was hit in the left wrist by a 109-mph comebacker off the bat of the Angels' Jo Adell. The team also said he was again dealing with groin tightness.
He last pitched on July 25, giving up just one run in six innings, but was scratched as a precautionary measure prior to Friday's game against the Athletics.
In six major league seasons, all with the Tigers, Mize is 27-31 with a 3.95 ERA and 450 strikeouts in 526 2/3 innings.
Hernandez is a 17-year-old shortstop who was recently signed out of Cuba. Mendez is a 24-year-old right-hander with a 4.93 ERA and 38 strikeouts in 34⅔ innings in Double-A.
Mayfield is a 21-year-old left-hander who is 6-4 at High-A Fort Wayne, while Jackson Wolf, 27, is 5-10 with a 7.05 ERA at Triple-A El Paso.
ESPN's Kiley McDaniel, Jeff Passan and David Schoenfield contributed to this report.