San Diego Padres injury news: Seth Lugo returns to start against San Francisco Giants

The San Diego Padres will welcome Seth Lugo back to the mound on Tuesday night against the San Francisco Giants after missing more than a month with a calf strain.

Lugo last pitched the Padres on May 16 in a home loss to the Kansas City Royals. In that game, Lugo suffered the calf strain while running to cover first base on a play that ended the second inning. It was the final straw of a nightmarish start where the 33-year-old right-hander had already surrendered five runs on four hits and walked two.

San Diego Padres get boost with Seth Lugo return from injury

Lugo had pitched well in his two starts prior to the stint against the Royals, giving up 12 hits and three runs over his previous 12.0 innings. The long ball had bitten him during that time however as he gave up one homer in each of those starts after surrendering two in an April 27 start at Wrigley Field against the Chicago Cubs.

In his first season with the Padres, Lugo is 3-3 with a 4.10 ERA/3.95 FIP/1.368 WHIP across eight starts (41.2 innings).

The Padres hope his return will help strengthen a rotation that has seen Yu Darvish struggle to a 6.89 ERA in his last six starts. Overall, San Diego's starting pitchers have combined for minus-0.5 bWAR this season, ranking the squad 18th out of MLB's 30 teams.

To make room on the active roster for Lugo, the Padres announced that they had designated right-hander reliever Nabil Crismatt for assignment. The 28-year-old Crismatt has appeared in just seven games for the Padres this season, posting a 9.82 ERA/7.37 FIP/2.182 WHIP, giving up 17 hits and 12 runs in a combined 11.0 innings.

Crismatt had not pitched for the Padres since walking two in a scoreless inning against the Tampa Bay Rays on June 16.