Good morning from Baltimore,
Dylan Cease said for weeks while his results were still lagging that he was getting better.
Then he did get better.
He allowed one hit in two straight starts, one that lasted six scoreless innings and one that lasted seven.
And yesterday, he was good enough to create a piece of history.
He threw Major League Baseball’s 324th no-hitter and the Padres’ second.
Asked how he might recall the day for his grandkids, Cease said: “I’ll probably describe the rain delay start and how kind of unassuming it felt at first, and then how it just — just keep going out there and putting up zeros and all of a sudden you look up and you’re one out away and then all of a sudden you’re no outs away and you’re celebrating.”
You can read about all that in my game story (here). And Bryce Miller wrote (here) on a play in the fifth inning that would have been incredible even if it was not one of the best no-hitter-preserving feats you will ever see.
Cease’s statistical dominance over his past three starts has arguably been matched or surpassed just once — by the Reds’ Johnny Vander Meer in 1938.
Speaking of dominance
The Padres swept their season series with the Nationals for the first time, including all the way back to when the Nats were the Montreal Expos.
They outscored the Nationals by 22 runs in the six games.
The past three games in Washington were remarkably lopsided, as the Padres outscored the Nationals 19-3 with all of the home team’s runs coming in the first inning of the middle game.
The Nationals had 11 hits in the three games, tied for the second fewest ever by any Padres opponent in a series of at least three games.
And a cup of Joe
It was a good couple days for Joe Musgrove and his tenant.
Yes, Cease is living in Musgrove’s guest house.
“Dominant house,” Musgrove said.
Musgrove, of course, was the first Padres pitcher to throw a no-hitter.
He has been sidelined the bulk of this season, however, and he has not pitched since May 26 due to elbow issues, but the likelihood he returns sooner than later is appearing ever more real.
On Wednesday, Musgrove threw more pitches, more kinds of pitches and with more intensity than he had in any bullpen session since beginning his road back from the injured list. He reported feeling good yesterday morning.
Then yesterday afternoon, Musgrove and everyone else on the team watched as Cease duplicated Musgrove’s feat.
“The accomplishment itself is incredible,” said Musgrove, who threw the franchise’s first no-hitter, on April 9, 2021, against the Rangers. “… I’m super happy for him.”
Musgrove was in the dugout helping convince manager Mike Shildt to leave Cease in after seven innings. He brought an electric fan nearer to Cease in the tunnel behind the dugout over the final three innings to cool him off on a muggy day. And, similar to how former pitching coach Larry Rothschild and catcher Victor Caratini had counseled him during his historic game, Musgrove spent time talking strategy with Cease.
“That seventh, eighth, ninth, between innings, getting ready to go back out, he’s sitting there talking about, ‘Do you think I should start throwing some fastballs into these righties? I feel like they’ve seen a lot,’” Musgrove recalled. “I’m like, ‘We’re in the (expletive) ninth inning, dude. Just do what you’ve been doing. Don’t change a thing.’”
For all the historical significance, the Padres will move on from yesterday feeling good about the starting pitching they have and hopeful about what they will have.
That could include Musgrove within a month.
I wrote in my pregame story (here) yesterday morning about the latest on Musgrove and why that had some in the organization buzzing, as well as the Padres front office’s focus leading up to Tuesday’s trade deadline.
Comeback, with a friend
Cease is just the sixth pitcher in the expansion era (since 1961) to lose a no-hitter with two outs in the ninth inning in a game and go on to complete a no-hitter later in his career.
“I think it’ll set in even more as time goes,” Cease said. “ButI’ve been close and to finally get it done, I mean, it’s one of those things, it feels so remarkable and hard to believe. To be able to do it and go out and experience it, I really don’t even know how to feel. I’m just happy.”
His near miss was on Sept. 3, 2022, against the Twins when he was pitching for the White Sox.
The player who broke it up was Luis Arraez.
Luis Arraez broke up Dylan Cease’s no-hit bid in the top of the 9th two years ago.
Today, he handed Cease the final out of his no-hitter as a teammate.
How can you not be romantic about baseball. pic.twitter.com/mKWvF2J1ZT
— Mike (@ChiSoxFanMike) July 25, 2024
Arraez has spoken often about his respect for Cease, who he faced several times when they were in the American League Central. As detailed in my game story, yesterday was special for Arraez, who spent time in prayer for Cease during the game and made a special gesture afterward.
He also recalled that night in 2022.
“I was really focused,” Arraez said. “The crowd in Chicago was big, a lot of fans. They were cheering for Dylan. I said, this is my moment. I wanted to break the no-hitter. I was fighting for my batting title. I needed that hit. Everybody hated me in Chicago, but it’s my job. He threw me (a) 99 (mph) fastball inside. Next pitch slider. He got two strikes. I said, ‘OK, let’s fight.’ He sent me a slider, and i broke up the no-hitter But I am so happy for Dylan. He deserves it. He’s amazing.”
Jake Cronenworth was teasing Arraez in the clubhouse about being so happy for Cease when he was the one who took away his first no-hitter.
Sitting nearby, pitcher Michael King’s eyes grew wide.
“What?” he said. “No way.”
He had not known until that moment the history between the two.
“That’s incredible,” King said afterward. “Really cool.”
No.5
Adam Mazur is back.
The rookie will start tonight’s series opener against the Orioles.
He has spent the past two weeks in Triple-A, where he got a bit of a rest while making just one start. Mazur allowed the Angels one run in six innings in his MLB debut on June 4 but since then has allowed 26 runs in 25 innings. Opponents are batting .336/.421/.589 against him in that span.
The Padres plan to add a starting pitcher (and a reliever) by Tuesday. So this should be a one-off for Mazur.
Even if they are shut out on acquiring an additional member of the rotation, an abundance of scheduled days off means the next time the Padres absolutely need a fifth starter is Aug. 10. They will almost certainly use one before that, but they could conceivably get by until then.
Tidbits
- Padres pitchers have allowed four runs on 14 hits over the past five games. They are just the second team to ever surrender no more than four runs and no more than 14 hits over a five-game stretch. The Mets allowed four runs and 13 hits from July 8-12, 2008.
- The Padres matched their longest win streak of the season with their fifth consecutive victory yesterday. The last time they won six in a row was 2021.
- A lot has changed for the Padres since Musgrove’s no-hitter, even though it was just three seasons ago. Just three Padres played in both games — Cronenworth, Jurickson Profar and Ha-Seong Kim. Cronenworth was at first base yesterday after playing second in Musgrove’s no-hitter. Profar was the first baseman for the Musgrove game and is in left field this season. Kim was at shortstop both games.
- Donovan Solano was 2-for-4 and scored a run yesterday in his first start in six games. He is batting .299/.356/402 in 191 plate appearances this season. Solano played third base yesterday while Manny Machado served as designated hitter while Arraez got a day off. As we have discussed here multiple times, Solano has been the odd man out since Xander Bogaerts returned from the injured list.
- Bogaerts was 1-for-3 with a walk and scored a run. He is batting .469 (15-for-32) in his eight games since he came back on July 12.
- Bryce Johnson was 1-for-10 with a walk and a sacrifice bunt while starting three games in Washington and is batting .128/.209/.154 in 46 plate appearances this season. With the Orioles starting right-handers at least the next two days, David Peralta is expected to start. Peralta is batting .310/.341/.500 over his past 44 plate appearances.
- The Padres scored all three of their runs yesterday with two outs in the first inning. Of their 28 runs in the six games on this road trip, 17 have come with two outs.
- If you have some time today, you could read this story I wrote in January about Shildt (here). Then you would know what a full-circle moment it will be for him to manage against the Orioles for the first time.
All right, that’s it for me.
Talk to you tomorrow.
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