Dylan Cease was five outs from doing something only a handful of pitchers have ever done in a Blue Jays uniform. But baseball is cruel sometimes, and the no-hit bid died on a leadoff single in the ninth inning. Still, Cease walked off the mound with something to show for it.
The Toronto right-hander struck out 11 Giants across eight-plus innings Wednesday, pushing his total of 11-strikeout games as a Blue Jay to four. That puts him in an exclusive group with seven other guys who’ve worn the uniform. Roger Clemens leads that pack with 16 such games, but Cease is the only active Toronto pitcher on the list. Not bad for a guy who’s been in town for less than two full seasons.
The game itself was over early
Toronto hung five runs on San Francisco in the first inning. The big blow came off the bat of rookie third baseman Kazuma Okomoto, who crushed a grand slam to put the game out of reach before most fans had settled into their seats. From there Cease just had to throw strikes and let his defense work, which is easier said than done when a no-hitter is on the line.
He threw a career-high 118 pitches. He walked three guys. But until Heliot Ramos dumped that single into the outfield grass to start the ninth, Cease had been flawless. Blue Jays manager John Schneider pulled him immediately after the hit, and the bullpen finished off the 10-0 win.
The Blue Jays took the series after dropping the opener. They’re now 44-49 on the year, sitting 11 games back of the Rays in the AL East. That’s not where a defending American League champ wants to be at the break. But a win like this one, even if it fell short of history, at least gives them some momentum heading into the All-Star layoff.
Toronto finishes the first half with a three-game set against the Padres starting Friday. Cease will get a few days to rest that arm before the second half kicks off. And somewhere in the Blue Jays record book, his name is now next to Roger Clemens’s. That’s not a bad consolation prize.
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