Fernando Tatís Jr. hit a two-run home run, and Dylan Cease struck out 10 batters over six innings, helping the San Diego Padres defeat the San Francisco Giants 5-0 on Friday night.
The Padres are now slightly ahead of the Diamondbacks for the top spot in the National League wild card standings and 1 1/2 games in front of the Mets for the final wild card position. The Giants have lost three out of their last four games and have been shut out in consecutive games for the first time this season.
Luis Arráez had three hits and a walk on Friday, extending his streak to 129 straight at-bats without a strikeout. This is the longest streak since Juan Pierre went 147 at-bats without striking out in 2004.
Cease (13-11) reached his 1,000th career strikeout in the third inning when he struck out Donovan Walton.
He allowed just four hits and two walks, and received some defensive help in the sixth when Tatís and Jake Cronenworth teamed up to stop Heliot Ramos at the plate after a double by Patrick Bailey. This was Cease’s first win since August 17.
“It means a lot,” Cease said about reaching 1,000 strikeouts. “Longevity and execution and performance and all that good stuff, but just happy we won. I feel like I haven’t contributed in like a month. So it feels nice to contribute.”
Padres manager Mike Shildt described Cease as “electric.”
“I thought his stuff was really good,” Shildt said. “Around the zone, a lot of life, ball up, secondary was good. A lot of strikes out of the hand. Anytime there was a miss, it was a quick adjustment. I thought it was fantastic to get through six and keep them shut out.”
San Diego scored three runs in the first inning against Logan Webb (12-10). Tatís hit a home run to center field after Arráez led off the game with a single. Xander Bogaerts later drove in Manny Machado with an RBI double.
