Dylan Cease pitched impressively into the ninth inning, and Manny Machado, Fernando Tatis Jr., and Donovan Solano all hit back-to-back home runs in the eighth for the San Diego Padres, who defeated the AL West-leading Houston Astros 4-0 on Wednesday.
Machado hit two home runs for the Padres, who won two out of three games against the Astros and remained 2 1/2 games ahead of the Diamondbacks and Mets for the first NL wild card spot. The Astros entered the game with a five-game lead in their division over Seattle, which was set to play the New York Yankees later.
Cease (14-11), who achieved his first career no-hitter on July 25 at Washington, had only allowed one hit going into the ninth inning.
However, Mauricio Dubón managed to hit an infield single to shortstop. Cease then struck out Jake Meyers, but shortstop Xander Bogaerts made an error on Jose Altuve’s grounder, which allowed Dubón to reach third base.
That marked the end of Cease’s outing after 103 pitches. Cease retired the first 15 batters from the Astros before allowing a single to Jason Heyward that opened the sixth inning. He then retired the side once again.
Cease mentioned that this was probably the third-best start of his career, following his no-hitter and a near no-hitter against Minnesota in 2022 with the Chicago White Sox, which was broken up with two outs in the ninth inning by Luis Arraez, who is now his teammate on the Padres.
“I remember looking up through six or seven and the pitch count was reasonable, and I went up to Rueben (Niebla, the pitching coach) and said, ‘Hey, I’m going to get through the eighth and ninth today,’” Cease said.
“He said, ‘Hey, just take it one at a time,’ and I said, ‘OK.’ When you get through six with a low pitch count, it’s very easy to dream about going further.”
Cease struck out five batters and walked none. Tanner Scott recorded two outs for his 21st save, finishing the game with only two hits allowed. “Just attacking the strike zone, mixing it up, and relying on my defense, really,” Cease said.
Padres manager Mike Shildt praised Cease, calling him “dominant. He was outstanding. Controlled counts, just a ton of life with everything. The ball was jumping. … He was in control the whole way.”
“Dylan Cease is a special talent,” Shildt added. Machado, who has hit 29 home runs this season, launched a leadoff shot to left-center against Framber Valdez in the sixth inning.
Tatis, who struck out in his first three at-bats, sent the first pitch from reliever Kaleb Ort into the first row in left-center to start the eighth. This was his 19th home run.
Machado followed with a deep shot into the left-field seats, and Solano hit a line drive to left for his seventh home run. That ended Ort’s outing, as he threw just nine pitches.
“That was awesome,” Cease said. “Talk about kind of getting some breathing room right there; it was pretty amazing.”
The Padres are nearing their third playoff spot since 2020, with a 37-17 record since the All-Star break, the best in the majors.
“We beat a really good club out there,” Machado said. “It’s fun. We’re playing really good baseball. We beat a really good ballclub that we’re probably going to be facing later on, so to go out there and play like we did and have Cease throw like he did, it was a good day.”
If the Astros and Padres meet again, it would be in the World Series. “We’ve been playing postseason baseball for the last month,” Machado said. “Every game counts, man. I mean, it’s fun, man. … It’s a little taste of it. This is not over.
“We’ve always understood what the goal is all year and nothing’s changed. We’re going to continue to think that way.”
Playing in front of three loud sellout crowds at Petco Park created an atmosphere that was “playoff-caliber, that’s for sure,” Shildt said. “All three games were nip-and-tuck.”
Valdez (14-7) pitched seven innings, giving up one run and five hits while striking out six and walking two.
