Padres' Dylan Cease throws no-hitter; second in MLB this season
Dylan Cease #84 of the San Diego Padres pitches to the Washington Nationals during the first inning at Nationals Park on July 25, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Jess Rapfogel/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON - Dylan Cease will forever get free drinks in San Diego.
The right-hander tossed a no-hitter on Thursday against the Washington Nationals, marking the second time a Padre had ever done so.
It took Cease 114 pitches to accomplish the feat, as he struck out nine and walked three.
The Nationals gave him problems to start the ninth, as Ildemaro Vargas worked an eight-pitch at-bat, but he eventually grounded out to second. Jacob Young had other ideas, as he grounded out to short on the first pitch of his at-bat.
That brought up C.J. Abrams, who lined out to right field on a 1-0 count to put Cease in the history books.
It's the second no-hitter in the big leagues this season, as Ronel Blanco of the Houston Astros accomplished the feat on April 1.
Joe Musgrove tossed the organization's first no-no in 2021 – to put that in perspective, they have been no-hit against 10 times.
This is now the seventh season in a row where there have been multiple no-hitters in a season.
Cease lowered his ERA to 3.50 on the season, which is his first with the Padres – he spent his first five with the Chicago White Sox.
His best campaign to date is his 2022 season, when he pitched to a 2.20 ERA while finishing in second place in the AL Cy Young Award vote, behind Justin Verlander, who had earned the third of his illustrious career.
But, considering the state of the White Sox, and their tendency not to sign anyone to big money deals, they sent him to San Diego, who were desperate to rebuild their starting rotation.
San Diego owns the third wild-card spot, despite sending Juan Soto to the Yankees and losing reigning Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell (who has a 5.83 ERA with the San Francisco Giants).
It's been a rather up-and-down career for Cease, whose ERA skyrocketed to 4.58 last year, but his ability to get guys to strike out (11.0 in his career, NL-leading 11.7 this season) will always make him a hot commodity and give him the ability to do something special any time.