'I should be dead,' Trevor Bauer says as he returns to Ducks after car accident and strikes out 10

Trevor Bauer stood on the mound in his No. 27 Ducks jersey, a sight that hadn’t been seen since he went on the injured list on May 18 because of back spasms. The 2020 National League Cy Young Award winner looked the same as he had in most of his outings this season — dominant.

His Father’s Day start came with his father, Warren, in from Phoenix to see it. Bauer put on a nice five-inning show for him, the other 5,483 fans and everyone else in the house on this sun-drenched Sunday at Fairfield Properties Ballpark.

After throwing a seven-inning no-hitter the last time he faced Lancaster, the 35-year-old righty yielded one run, two hits and no walks and struck out 10 in a 7-2 victory over the Stormers, capping a 5-1 series and moving the Ducks to 31-23.

Bauer hasn’t pitched in the majors since 2021, but he still hasn’t given up on making a big-league sequel. Yet beyond his pitching situation, he knows he’s lucky to still be breathing.

“I should be dead,” he told Newsday.

Two days after being placed on the injured list, he was in Arizona for treatment and was driving in the Scottsdale area when another driver T-boned him, totaling Bauer’s McLaren. Somehow, he emerged OK.

“He could not have squared me up any better,” Bauer said. “He just drove directly into me. God bless the engineers at McLaren for designing a car that keeps the driver safe. Yeah, I should be dead.”

His Atlantic League stats got even shinier after this return — seven starts, 42 innings, 5-1 record, 2.36 ERA, 66 strikeouts and seven walks.

“I would hope to get signed,” Bauer said about an MLB opportunity. “I’ve outpitched everybody in the league. Everybody else gets an opportunity to go pitch. I think we’ve had double-digit people sign in affiliate ball. Probably more than 20 pitchers have gone.

“I’m willing to pitch at any level, for any amount of money. And I’ve been the best pitcher in the league, both objectively and results-wise. So it would be nice to be able to play where my talent says I can play.”

His one shaky start came against Gastonia on May 17. But there were extenuating circumstances.

After fanning a Ducks-record 15 batters in the previous start vs. Gastonia, Bauer was lifting the next day and had a back spasm. He felt the back being locked up for three or four days, but he then pitched anyway.

“In the third inning, it started tightening up a little bit and my command was off,” Bauer said. “I dealt with back spasms all last year in Japan. I pride myself on not missing starts, and so I just pitched through it [there]. And then my performance suffered. And everybody’s like, ‘Oh my God, you’re washed. You suck because you were the worst pitcher in Japan.’ It’s like, ‘Well, I was pitching injured all year.’

“I probably should have not made that mistake here. But I took some time to get the back right and now I’m good.”

Warren Bauer had to like the view. “He’s not going to pitch forever,” the retired chemical engineer told Newsday before the game. “I get to enjoy watching him pitch while he still can pitch.

“It’s a long ways [from Phoenix]. Father’s Day is a good day to come and see him.”

It brought back memories of a Southern California kid. “Actually, I enjoy that he’s pitching for the Ducks because it reminds me of baseball when he was a young guy and baseball was more for fun or enjoyment,” the elder Bauer said. “It wasn’t all about the money or whatever.”

Only Nate Martorella did any real damage against Bauer, lining a ball over the rightfield wall to open the second. Forty-nine of Bauer’s 79 pitches went for strikes. Manager Lew Ford said the plan was for “around 80 pitches.”

“He’s a great pitcher,” Ford said. “He won the ballgame today. A great leader on the team, and we’re happy to have him back here. It brings a lot of excitement to the games, too.”