Dealin' Cease
No-Hitter History in DC
First off: congrats to Dylan Cease. What a remarkable accomplishment. The 324th no-hitter in Major League history. And of course, just the second in franchise history.
And now a bunch of other, random, probably jumbled thoughts on yesterday’s1 no-hitter at Nationals Park:
When you stop and think that it took from 4/8/69 until 4/9/21 for the Padres organization to throw its first no-hitter and that they got their second on 7/25/24; it’s a pretty good in-your-face reminder that we are living in the golden era of San Diego baseball. Easy to forget, I know, but that’s some real talk.
Cease having a no-hitter broken up with two outs in the 9th by future teammate Luis Arraez two years ago and then getting it done with Arraez (very) nervously watching from the dugout is very on brand for this wonderful game.
The only guy to reach base in Joe Musgrove’s no-hitter? Joey Gallo. And where is Joey Gallo now? With the Nats (on the IL).
I circled three “special” plays from the game yesterday. The obvious one: the incredible Bogaerts/Merrill tip-drill in CF in the 5th inning. Prior to that, though, a super-slick and super-tricky 5-6-3 double play the inning before turned by Donovan Solano, Ha-Seong Kim and Jake Cronenworth. And of course, Bogaerts great recovery on the near-infield single in the 8th. Fun read on the Merrill catch from Bryce Miller of the Union-Tribune if you missed it.
No-hitters are rare. Rain delays in the top of the first inning might be even more so. Had that delay been just a little longer, is there a real possibility Cease never takes the mound yesterday?
Only three players were on the field for the final out of both Padre no-hitters…can you name them? Hint: only one was at the same defensive position for both games. Keep reading for the answer…
Great three minutes of raw video collected by the Padres content team and shared by pitching coach Ruben Niebla after the game last night. Field-level view of the final out and the celebration.
Let’s be sure to mention catcher Luis Campusano, who has worked with Cease most every start this year including all of the last three (6 shutout innings/1 hit vs Atlanta; 7 shutout innings/1 hit in Cleveland and then yesterday’s no-no).
How great is that picture above of Musgrove and Cease? Our team photographer, the incomparable Matt Thomas, took some incredible shots in the aftermath and I’m going to share a couple more as we go.
That was the first no-hitter Mike Shildt has ever been on the right side of at any level in about 30 years of baseball. The closest he came before yesterday? Probably this wild game in Cincinnati as the interim manager of the Cardinals in 2018. A potential no-hitter in Daniel Ponce de Leon’s ML debut turned into a heartbreaking loss as the Reds scored twice in the bottom of the 9th to win it 2-1. The winning run that night was scored by Jesse Winker, who grounded into that big double play turned by Solano, Kim and Cronenworth yesterday.
Trivia answer: Profar (at 1b in 2021 and in LF yesterday); Cronenworth (at 2b in 2021 and at 1b yesterday) & Kim (SS for both).
Something in the water? Cease moved into Musgrove’s guest house during this season. Dennis Lin with a great piece in The Athletic looking back at how Musgrove and Michael King helped Cease through his start.
More on the Arraez/Cease no-hitter history from AJ Cassavel of MLB dot com. From everything I’ve heard and read, Arraez was about as intensely invested in this outcome as any teammate could possibly be. Neat stuff.
The moment Arraez gave the ball from the final out to Cease. And finally (until I remember some more stuff and fire it out on social media later), some broadcasting notes. Thrilled for Mark Grant, Eduardo Ortega and our radio producer Dave Marcus, who have combined to have worked basically a century’s worth of Padre games without seeing the team throw a no-hitter in person. As you may recall, we were still broadcasting remotely when Musgrove took down the Rangers in ‘21. So happy for those guys to finally check that box. And obviously for Tony, Don, Pedro, MikePom and the rest of our crew. Too cool.
With baseball, of course, it’s always on to the next. Three game series begins tonight in Baltimore before the longest trip of the season ends and the Pads return home to host the Dodgers and Rockies…
Talk soon…
I had initially planned on sending this out Friday morning, so even though I wrote it Thursday night, it should read like it’s Friday morning. That said, I think I’m going to send it out now (just before 8pm PT on Thurs night) because ya know, why not? So if you see it tonight, just ignore how weird it might sound at times. And if you’re reading this tomorrow, just disregard this entire footnote.