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Dylan Cease throws second no-hitter in San Diego Padres history, 3-0 win over Washington Nationals

APTOPIX Padres Nationals Baseball
July 25, 2024

WASHINGTON (AP) โ€” Hoping for a chance to stay in the game and pitch the second no-hitter in San Diego Padres history, Dylan Cease received some help from the man who threw the first.

Cease was at 94 pitches through seven innings when Padres manager Mike Shildt glanced at Joe Musgrove.

โ€œJoe is like, `His stuff is pretty good,โ€™โ€ Shildt recalled. "Well, heโ€™s thrown one. He knows what this looks like. We let him ride.โ€

Cease needed only nine pitches in the eighth and 11 in the ninth in a 3-0 victory over the Washington Nationals on Thursday that completed a three-game sweep.

Dylan Cease throws second no-hitter in San Diego Padres history, 3-0 win over Washington Nationals
APTOPIX Padres Nationals Baseball

After falling one out short of a no-hitter two years ago when he gave up a single to current teammate Luis Arrรกez, Cease retired Ildemaro Vargas and Jacob Young on a groundouts for the first two outs of the ninth, then got CJ Abrams to hit a flyout to right on a 1-0 slider.

โ€œMy thought was Iโ€™m going to throw a slider and Iโ€™m going to get it down, and if itโ€™s down heโ€™s either hopefully going to beat it into the ground or he canโ€™t put in play,โ€ Cease said. โ€œI didnโ€™t like it off the bat. It looked very hitterish, but fortunately fateโ€™s on my side today.โ€

Cease (10-8) struck out nine and walked three in the 28-year-old right-handerโ€™s third complete game in 145 big league starts. He threw a career-high 114 pitches in a game that included a 1-hour, 16-minute rain delay in the first.

Dylan Cease throws second no-hitter in San Diego Padres history, 3-0 win over Washington Nationals
Padres Nationals Baseball

โ€œThe first inning, he comes in and says โ€˜Iโ€™m not quite there,โ€™โ€ Shildt recalled. โ€œThe second inning, โ€˜Getting there.โ€™ Then the third inning, he just hit his stride.โ€

Musgrove pitched the Padresโ€™ first no-hitter against Texas on April 9, 2021. Houstonโ€™s Ronel Blanco threw the only other no-hitter this season, against Toronto on April 1.

Cease was within one out of a no-hitter for the Chicago White Sox against Minnesota on Sept. 3, 2022, when Arrรกez lined a single to right-center on a 1-1 slider over the middle of the strike zone.

Dylan Cease throws second no-hitter in San Diego Padres history, 3-0 win over Washington Nationals
Padres Nationals Baseball

โ€œIโ€™ve been close and to finally get it done, itโ€™s one of those things that feels so remarkable and hard to believe,โ€ Cease said. โ€œTo be able to do it and go out and experience it, I really donโ€™t even know how to feel. Just happy.โ€

He worried about the pitch count causing an early end to his outing.

โ€œThankfully, we were able to talk it out,โ€ Cease said. โ€œI just said โ€˜I feel really good right now. Next inning, if Iโ€™m kind of erratic or use up too many pitches, pull me then. But give me a shot, at least.โ€™ Thankfully, we worked it out.โ€

Dylan Cease throws second no-hitter in San Diego Padres history, 3-0 win over Washington Nationals
Padres Nationals Baseball

Shildt said he wasnโ€™t going to allow Ceaseโ€™s pitch count to rise into the high 120s. He said there was no further conversation after Cease breezed through the eighth.

โ€œI just love the conviction,โ€ Shildt said. โ€œI think itโ€™s important in my chair to be able to be open-minded and listen to your athletes. He felt good. He felt convicted. He made a really strong case. I want him to go out, too, but looking at the big picture and the factor (of the rain delay) before, and once I cleared that with him, he was good.โ€

The closest Washington came to a hit was when Juan Yepez lofted a fly to shallow center in the fifth inning. The ball popped out of second baseman Xander Bogaertsโ€™ glove, but center fielder Jackson Merrill was there to snare the ball before it hit the ground.

Dylan Cease throws second no-hitter in San Diego Padres history, 3-0 win over Washington Nationals
Padres Nationals Baseball

โ€œI was just playing keepy-ups, making sure it didnโ€™t hit the ground," Merrill said. "As soon as he calls me off, Iโ€™m there and Iโ€™m ready for anything that happened --- if it bounces off him, goes the other way, Iโ€™m ready for anything.โ€

Bogaerts also bobbled a ball after making a diving stop of Keibert Ruizโ€™s grounder with one out in the eighth but recovered in time to throw out the slow-footed catcher at first.

โ€œIt feels like every no-hitter, thereโ€™s a couple plays like that are just remarkable,โ€ Cease said.

Dylan Cease throws second no-hitter in San Diego Padres history, 3-0 win over Washington Nationals
Padres Nationals Baseball

Cease threw 60 sliders against the Nationals along with 39 fastballs averaging 98.3 mph โ€” 1.4 mph above his season average โ€” and 10 knuckle-curves. Cease induced 12 groundouts. The Nationals swung and missed 18 times, including six on strikeouts.

His previous complete games also were shutouts: a seven-inning three-hitter against Detroit on April 29, 2021, and the win over the Twins.

Cease allowed only three baserunners. Lane Thomas walked with one out in the first inning and was caught stealing, then reached on another walk in the fourth but was erased on Jesse Winkerโ€™s double-play grounder. Abrams walked leading off the seventh and was stranded at second base.

Dylan Cease throws second no-hitter in San Diego Padres history, 3-0 win over Washington Nationals
Padres Nationals Baseball

Cease has pitched 22 shutout innings over his last three starts, and earlier threw seven innings of one-hit, shutout ball against Washington on June 26.

โ€œHe kept our hitters off balance all game and never really gave us much to hit,โ€ Nationals manager Dave Martinez said.

Washington was no-hit for the second straight season. Philadelphiaโ€™s Michael Lorenzen achieved the feat last Aug. 9.

Dylan Cease throws second no-hitter in San Diego Padres history, 3-0 win over Washington Nationals
Padres Nationals Baseball

San Diego has won five in a row and earned its third series sweep of the season and first on the road. The Padres swept Oakland and Washington at home last month.

Washington was swept for the sixth time this season and finished 0-6 against San Diego. It was the first time the Padres went undefeated against the Nationals/Montreal Expos franchise since both teams joined the National League in 1969.

San Diego loaded the bases in the first with a single and two walks against Patrick Corbin (2-10) before the delay after the first pitch to Ha-Seong Kim. When the game resumed, Kim worked a full count before poking a single to left-center that scored all three runners.

UP NEXT

Padres: Open a series Friday at Baltimore and RHP Grayson Rodriguez (12-4, 3.83).

Nationals: LHP MacKenzie Gore (6-8, 4.20 ERA), whose two-inning outing Saturday against Cincinnati was his shortest start of the season, starts in the opener of a three-game series at St. Louis.

___

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

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