Clevinger talks plane scare: 'I thought we were just going to the ground, dead'

San Diego Padres right-hander Mike Clevinger had a terrifying experience while flying from Phoenix to El Paso, Texas, on Monday for a final rehab start.

"We were up at like 30,000 feet elevation, the light comes on to move about the cabin," Clevinger said, according to Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune. "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 - 'Put your oxygen masks on! Put your oxygen masks on!' We're (stomach) in our throat for 25, 30 seconds. I thought we were just going to the ground, dead.

"And then we get to 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 said the cabin filled with smoke, and he could only hear one engine functioning properly.

"The guy next to me is trying to keep me calm," the 31-year-old said. "I'm freaking out. … He's keeping his chill while everyone is crying and freaking out. The flight attendant was crying. Like, she had no bedside manner at all."

Clevinger added that he couldn't text his fiancee and mother because he was "frozen."

The five-year veteran said the plane eventually landed in Tucson, Arizona, after flying at a low altitude for half an hour.