Padres vs. Guardians Tuesday MLB probable pitchers, odds: Mike Clevinger returns from Tommy John surgery against former team

Weather-permitting in Cleveland, it's a big night for the San Diego Padres in a series opener as they welcome back mega-talented starting pitcher Mike Clevinger from Tommy John surgery, and it's fitting it comes in Cleveland because the Guardians traded him to the Friars two years ago in a blockbuster. San Diego is -140 at Caesars Sportsbook.

It might be easy to forget how good Clevinger was for the former Indians. In 2017, he was 12-6 with a 3.11 ERA, 1.25 WHIP and 137 strikeouts in 121.2 innings. The next year, 13-8 with a 3.02 ERA, 1.16 WHIP and 207 strikeouts in 200.0 innings. And in 2019, 13-4 with a 2.71 ERA, 1.06 WHIP and 169 strikeouts in 126 innings.

He was 1-1 with a 3.18 in four starts in 2020, but Clevinger was about to get expensive so Cleveland in August of that year shipped him and outfielder Greg Allen to the Padres for pitcher Cal Quantrill, catcher Austin Hedges, shortstop Gabriel Arias, utility infielder Owen Miller, outfielder Josh Naylor and left-handed pitcher Joey Cantillo.

You'd have to say that Cleveland has won that trade so far as Quantrill, Hedges, Miller and Naylor are starters and Arias is one of the team's top prospects. Clevinger made four starts in the 2020 regular season for the Padres (2-1, 2.84 ERA). This will be his first big-league outing since one inning of relief on Oct. 6, 2020, in the NLDS vs. the Dodgers. He then had arm trouble and his second elbow reconstruction surgery in November 2020 before missing all of last season.

To make Clevinger's comeback even crazier, a trip to a rehab start in El Paso last Monday included his flight nosediving and an emergency landing.

"We were up at like 30,000 feet elevation, the light comes on to move about the cabin," Clevinger said. "And then next thing you know we're nose diving hard and the air pressure drops in the cabin. The A/C turns off. The captain goes on yelling. The oxygen masks come down, (the captain yells), 'Put your oxygen masks on! Put your oxygen masks on!' We're (stomachs) in our throat for 25, 30 seconds. I thought we were just going to the ground, dead. And then we get to like around 5,000-feet elevation. That's when he starts doing swirls, and he comes back on and he's like, 'Folks, we're gonna try to make an emergency landing in Tucson.' "

Clevinger made three rehab starts, striking out 15 in 8.2 innings with a 2.08 ERA. He will be opposed by good friend Zach Plesac (1-2, 3.80) of the Guardians. Plesac was shelled last time out at the Angels but has a 2.25 ERA in two home starts.

There is a 55 percent chance of rain in Cleveland so a delay or even postponement is possible.

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