Dylan Cease Throws 2nd No-Hitter of 2024 MLB Season as Fans Celebrate Padres Star
Scott Polacek@@ScottPolacek
Featured Columnist IVJuly 25, 2024
Welcome to the history books, Dylan Cease.
The right-hander threw the second no-hitter in San Diego Padres franchise history and led his team to a 3-0 victory over the Washington Nationals on Thursday. He struck out nine and walked three in the dominant performance.
It was just the second no-hitter of the season after Ronel Blanco of the Houston Astros threw one against the Toronto Blue Jays in April.
Cease's outing led to plenty of reaction on social media:
Jeff Passan @JeffPassanDylan Cease has no-hit the Washington Nationals. A 114-pitch, three-walk, nine-strikeout gem in which his fastball hit 100 mph in the ninth on his 110th pitch. On Sept. 3, 2022, he gave up a hit with two outs in the ninth. Today, he throws the second no-hitter of the 2024 season.
Chris Baker @cbaker_njGood for Dylan Cease. This trade is looking amazing for the Padres. Thorpe is finally settling in for the White Sox but they're still light years behind everyone else. Padres have a core that is deadly when firing on all cylinders. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ForTheFaithful?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ForTheFaithful</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MLBTwitter?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MLBTwitter</a> <a href="https://t.co/TPDL8S52iH">https://t.co/TPDL8S52iH</a>
Retiring CJ Abrams for the final out was probably quite the relief for Cease, who came painfully close to recording a no-hitter in 2022 when he was a member of the Chicago White Sox. Luis Arráez, who is now teammates with the pitcher on the Padres, hit a single for the Minnesota Twins when Cease was one out away from a no-hitter in that outing.
The 28-year-old now has a no-hitter to go with his near-miss.
He joined Joe Musgrove (April 2021) as the only Padres pitcher to record one even though he and the rest of his teammates needed to wait through a rain delay of more than an hour before Thursday's game even started.
Every no-hitter seemingly always features an excellent defensive play or moment when there's some drama, and Thursday's came in the fifth inning.
Xander Bogaerts got his glove on a looping hit from Juan Yepez but was unable to pull it in for a catch. Fortunately for the Padres and Cease, Jackson Merrill was in the right place at the right time to preserve the no-hitter:
This was anything but a fluke performance, though.
Cease has been absolutely dominant of late, as ESPN's Jeff Passan highlighted:
San Diego will need him to continue pitching at an excellent level if it is going to play well into October. It is just a half-game ahead of the St. Louis Cardinals for the final spot in a crowded National League wild-card race.
Should the Padres reach the postseason, they will likely hand the ball to Cease as often as possible.
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