The San Diego Padres, who had just one no-hitter in franchise history before Thursday, removed themselves from that dubious distinction thanks to Dylan Cease. The right-handed pitcher tossed a no-hit gem in a 3-0 victory over the Washington Nationals on that day to secure the Padres’ fifth straight victory.
Cease threw a career-high 114 pitches, with 71 being strikes, baffling Nationals hitters throughout the getaway game. He struck out nine batters, and only three walks prevented him from having a perfect match. He faced 28 batters—just one over the minimum—and got extra outs via one double play that San Diego’s defense turned, as well as a caught stealing.
After the game, Cease admitted he had lobbied Padres manager Mike Shildt to stay in the game after the seventh inning even though his pitch count was creeping up.
“[Shildt] said, ‘nice job’ and I looked up and it was like 94 pitches,” recalled Cease. “I just said, ‘I feel great, and if we get through the [eighth inning] at like 105’ … I’ve thrown 113 pitches this year, so thankfully, they let me talk him into it, and here we are.”
Making the performance even more remarkable is that the game had a 76-minute rain delay just two outs into it. Pitchers are infamous for their routines, and this undoubtedly threw Cease off a bit, but that wasn’t evident with what he did on the mound.
This was the latest exceptional outing from Cease, who was traded to San Diego from the Chicago White Sox in the offseason after five seasons in the Windy City. He allowed just one hit in each of his two previous starts, going seven innings in a win over the Cleveland Guardians on Saturday and six innings in a victory over the Atlanta Braves on July 13. Over his last 22 innings, Cease has allowed just two hits and seven walks while striking out 30 batters.
All three runs in this game came on one swing of the bat as Padres shortstop Ha-Seong Kim drove in three with a bases-clearing single in the opening inning after the rain delay.
This is Cease’s first no-hitter, but he came as close to getting one two years ago as any pitcher could come. Facing the Minnesota Twins on Sept. 3, 2022, Cease had a no-hitter going through 8.2 innings, with batting champion Luis Arraez coming to the plate.
Arraez—who is now a teammate of Cease’s in San Diego—then lined a slider into the right field gap to end Cease’s no-hit bid. The pitcher would then strike out the next batter for a one-hit victory.
The Padres, who began play in 1969, were known for decades as the only team without a no-hitter thrown in franchise history. That ended when Joe Musgrove tossed the first for the squad in 2021. Prior to Thursday, San Diego, the Colorado Rockies, the Tampa Bay Rays and the Toronto Blue Jays were all tied for having the fewest no-hitters thrown with one apiece. But the Padres are the oldest franchise of that group of play as the Blue Jays began play in 1977, with the Rockies and Rays then joining MLB in the 1990s.
San Diego has been on the receiving end of quite a few no-hitters, as it has been no-hit 11 times in franchise history. The last of those etched the Padres into MLB history when Tyler Gilbert of the Arizona Diamondbacks no-hit the Padres on Aug. 14, 2021. That was Gilbert’s first career MLB start, making him the fourth pitcher ever, and first since 1953, to toss a no-hitter in his first major league start.
The Los Angeles Dodgers hold the major league record with 26 no-hitters pitched all-time, while the Philadelphia Phillies have been no-hit the most times with 21 occurrences.
This was the second no-hitter of the 2024 MLB season after Ronel Blanco of the Houston Astros threw one on April 1 against the Blue Jays. According to Major League Baseball, Cease’s no-hitter is the 324th in MLB history. Of those, 24 were also perfect games.
Nolan Ryan holds the MLB record of seven no-hitters through his Hall of Fame career, while Sandy Koufax has the second-most with four. Justin Verlander (three) has the most among active pitchers.
Even with this recent three-game stretch for Cease in which he’s appeared nearly unhittable, he would be hard-pressed to match what Johnny Vander Meer did in 1938 with the Cincinnati Reds. He threw back-to-back no-hitters and remains the only person in the 148-year history of the major leagues to throw consecutive no-hitters.
Cease will get the opportunity to match Vander Meer in his next scheduled start on Wednesday against the Dodgers. But unlike the Nationals, who have the third-fewest hits in the National League, the Dodgers have the third-most in the Senior Circuit while leading all of baseball in both on-base percentage and OPS.
Neither the pitcher, nor any other Padres, will get to see the Nationals again this season as Thursday’s contest was the last of six matchups between the teams in 2024. That’s unfortunate scheduling for Padres fans, as their team went a perfect 6-0 against Washington this season.
