There was the 99.9 mph fastball that broke Marcell Ozuna’s bat on a dribbled grounder that ended up being the only hit off Dylan Cease in six innings.
There was the slider that Eddie Rosario swung over hopelessly to end the Braves’ only real threat against Cease.
There were the 11 batters Cease struck out and the four 100 mph fastballs he threw in his final inning.
Cease was good again. Really good. That is good news in the grand scheme for the Padres. Really good.
In the more immediate sense, the good news was that the Padres won for the first time in eight days.
A 4-0 victory over the Braves on Saturday stopped a losing streak at five games, which was tied for their longest skid of the season.
The Padres also got 13 hits, two more than their total from the previous two games.
Manny Machado had three of the hits and scored two of the runs, including his solo homer in the eighth inning. David Peralta, the primary fill-in for the injured Fernando Tatis Jr., drove in two runs with his three hits. Luis Arraez had three hits, as well, with one of them driving in a run.
All in all, Saturday was a welcome reassurance for a team that has fallen out of playoff position and has one game remaining before the All-Star break.
For whatever moves they are able to make in advance of the July 30 trade deadline, the Padres know they are not going to be as good as they envision unless the players they have perform closer to how they did while going 12-3 from June 19 to July 5 and not as they did in the five games between their most recent victories.
That same thing can certainly be said of Cease, who was acquired in a March 13 trade and began the season by posting a 2.19 ERA in his first eight starts.
Cease (8-8, 3.99) had a 5.88 ERA in his 11 games leading up to Saturday, a stretch in which he yielded 13 home runs and allowed a .279 batting average.
Saturday was the fourth game this season he went at least six innings while allowing one hit. It was the third time he did so without allowing a run.
Cease also threw a lot of pitches, in part due to the high volume of strikeouts and also owing to three walks. He departed after six innings and 106 pitches.
Jeremiah Estrada, Adrián Morejón and Robert Suarez followed with a scoreless inning apiece.
Machado’s single flared over shortstop Orlando Arcia’s head got the Padres on their way to scoring a run in the second inning.
Machado was taken off the bases by Donovan Solano’s fielder’s choice grounder, and Jackson Merrill struck out before Solano stole second with Peralta at the plate. Two pitches later, Peralta bounced a ball over the wall in the left fielder corner to bring in Solano.
Arraez’s double down the right field line scored Tyler Wade, who had singled and stolen second, in the fifth inning.
Singles by Machado, Solano and Peralta put the Padres up 3-0 in the sixth.
Originally Published: