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While the San Diego Padres were on the receiving end of a walk-off by the New York Yankees on Wednesday night, losing 4-3 in 10 innings, it's important not to forget about the performance of pitcher Dylan Cease. In what will probably be remembered for how the Padres struggled against the Yankees in the past two games, Cease had a no-hit bid that would eventually be lost in the seventh inning.
Having a dominant start until the seventh inning, pitching a no-hitter, New York's Cody Bellinger would hit a solo shot to break it up. After Cease struck out Anthony Volpe, he would be taken out due to cramps, as he spoke after the game about what led to San Diego pulling him, according to ESPN.
“It basically made my hand close tight for a couple of seconds. I don't think it's anything too serious,” Cease said. “I honestly was going to throw some warmup pitches and see, but I think the smart thing was to do what we did there.”
The cramps would be in his right forearm as Cease had a 1-2 count on Jason Dominguez before manager Mike Shildt and a team athletic trainer came out to check on the 29-year-old.
“To his credit, he said something about it,” Shildt said. “Said he could have kept going, but it didn't make sense at the moment, so we'll evaluate and see what happens.”
Padres' Dylan Cease on if there's further concern with injury
With Cease considered a big part of the Padres' future, the team hopes the cramps don't lead to anything major regarding missing time. However, it seems like the right-hander is fine, as testing showed no signs of further concern, reflecting that being taken out was “the right call.”
“We did all the testing. Nothing hurts or anything. It was just my hand locked up for a couple seconds and let go,” Cease said. “I obviously would have liked to have kept going, but I think it was the right call.”
“I don't have any worry about my arm, to be honest, I guess you never know, but I'm not in any pain or anything, I'm really not worried about it,” Cease said. “It was just kind of like a weird thing.”
It was an arguable season-best outing for Cease as he struck out nine batters and went six 2/3 innings, as the pitcher had the second no-hitter in team history last July as which was also against the Yankees. Despite the result of the game and the cramps, Cease would have an optimistic approach.
“I've been working on some mechanical stuff, and it hadn't been clicking,” Cease said. “Then today it finally clicked and got to the point where I was able to kind of just focus on my target and throw it. I've been searching for that for a while now, so it definitely feels good to be back closer to what I should be.”
San Diego is now 23-13, which puts them second in the NL West as the team starts a three-game series against the Colorado Rockies starting Friday night.
