Padres' Dylan Cease throws no-hitter against Nationals

WASHINGTON -- Hoping for a chance to stay in the game and pitch the second no-hitter in San Diego Padres history, Dylan Cease received some help from the man who threw the first.

Cease was at 94 pitches through seven innings when Padres manager Mike Shildt glanced at Joe Musgrove.

"Joe is like, 'His stuff is pretty good,'" Shildt recalled. "Well, he's thrown one. He knows what this looks like. We let him ride."

Cease, 28, needed only nine pitches in the eighth and 11 in the ninth in a 3-0 victory over the Washington Nationals on Thursday that completed a three-game sweep.

After falling one out short of a no-hitter two years ago when he gave up a single to current teammate Luis Arráez, Cease retired Ildemaro Vargas and Jacob Young on a groundouts for the first two outs of the ninth, then got CJ Abrams to hit a flyout to right on a 1-0 slider.

"My thought was I'm going to throw a slider and I'm going to get it down, and if it's down he's either hopefully going to beat it into the ground or he can't put in play," Cease said. "I didn't like it off the bat. It looked very hitterish, but fortunately fate's on my side today."

Cease (10-8) struck out nine and walked three in the right-hander's third complete game in 145 big league starts. He threw a career-high 114 pitches in a game that included a 1-hour, 16-minute rain delay in the first.

"The first inning, he comes in and says 'I'm not quite there,'" Shildt recalled. "The second inning, 'Getting there.' Then the third inning, he just hit his stride."

Musgrove pitched the Padres' first no-hitter against Texas on April 9, 2021. Houston's Ronel Blanco threw the only other no-hitter this season, against Toronto on April 1.

Cease was within one out of a no-hitter for the Chicago White Sox against Minnesota on Sept. 3, 2022, when Arráez lined a single to right-center on a 1-1 slider over the middle of the strike zone.

"I've been close and to finally get it done, it's one of those things that feels so remarkable and hard to believe," Cease said. "To be able to do it and go out and experience it, I really don't even know how to feel. Just happy."

He worried about the pitch count causing an early end to his outing.

"Thankfully, we were able to talk it out," Cease said. "I just said, 'I feel really good right now. Next inning, if I'm kind of erratic or use up too many pitches, pull me then. But give me a shot, at least.' Thankfully, we worked it out."

Shildt said he wasn't going to allow Cease's pitch count to rise into the high 120s. He said there was no further conversation after Cease breezed through the eighth.

"I just love the conviction," Shildt said. "I think it's important in my chair to be able to be open-minded and listen to your athletes. He felt good. He felt convicted. He made a really strong case. I want him to go out, too, but looking at the big picture and the factor [of the rain delay] before, and once I cleared that with him, he was good."

The closest Washington came to a hit was when Juan Yepez lofted a fly to shallow center in the fifth inning. The ball popped out of second baseman Xander Bogaerts' glove, but center fielder Jackson Merrill was there to snare the ball before it hit the ground.

"I was just playing keepy-ups, making sure it didn't hit the ground," Merrill said. "As soon as he calls me off, I'm there and I'm ready for anything that happened -- if it bounces off him, goes the other way, I'm ready for anything."

Bogaerts also bobbled a ball after making a diving stop of Keibert Ruiz's grounder with one out in the eighth but recovered in time to throw out the slow-footed catcher at first.

"It feels like every no-hitter, there's a couple plays like that are just remarkable," Cease said.

Cease threw 60 sliders against the Nationals along with 39 fastballs averaging 98.3 mph -- 1.4 mph above his season average -- and 10 knuckle-curves. Cease induced 12 groundouts. The Nationals swung and missed 18 times, including six on strikeouts.

His previous complete games also were shutouts: a seven-inning three-hitter against Detroit on April 29, 2021, and the win over the Twins.

The no-hitter shortened the betting odds for Cease to win the NL Cy Young Award at ESPN BET, where he moved from 100-1 to 40-1. Cease is tied with Logan Webb for fifth-shortest odds for the award at ESPN BET, behind Atlanta's Chris Sale (+135), Philadelphia's Zack Wheeler (+185) and Pittsburgh rookie Paul Skenes (+275).

Cease allowed only three baserunners. Lane Thomas walked with one out in the first inning and was caught stealing, then reached on another walk in the fourth but was erased on Jesse Winker's double-play grounder. Abrams walked leading off the seventh and was stranded at second base.

Cease has pitched 22 shutout innings over his last three starts, and earlier threw seven innings of one-hit, shutout ball against Washington on June 26.

"He kept our hitters off balance all game and never really gave us much to hit," Nationals manager Dave Martinez said.

Washington was no-hit for the second straight season. Then-Phillies starter  Michael Lorenzen achieved the feat last Aug. 9.

San Diego has won five in a row and earned its third series sweep of the season and first on the road. The Padres swept Oakland and Washington at home last month.

Washington was swept for the sixth time this season and finished 0-6 against San Diego. It was the first time the Padres went undefeated against the Nationals/Montreal Expos franchise since both teams joined the National League in 1969.

San Diego loaded the bases in the first with a single and two walks against Patrick Corbin (2-10) before the delay after the first pitch to Ha-Seong Kim. When the game resumed, Kim worked a full count before poking a single to left-center that scored all three runners.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.