Dylan Cease was masterful on Wednesday for the San Diego Padres and teammate Manny Machado’s two homers helped sink the Houston Astros 4-0. Three Padres hitters, including Machado, hit back-to-back-to-back home runs in the bottom of the eighth inning.
Up until that point, an earlier Machado solo home run off Astros starter Framber Valdez (14-7) was the only run scored. Cease (14-11) totally fooled Astros hitters all game long, pitching 8 1/3 innings of shutout baseball.
Houston Astros Have No Answers For Cease
Right fielder Jason Heyward and second baseman Mauricio Dubón had the only two hits for the Houston Astros. Jose Altuve, who was ejected from Tuesday night’s 4-3 extra-innings Astros win, batted in his usual leadoff position but as the designated hitter. Altuve went 0-for-4, one of many 0-fors that Houston put up against San Diego Padres pitching.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, Machado rocketed a Valdez pitch over the left-center field wall to give the Padres a 1-0 lead.
Manny Machado wants October baseball in San Diego.
He goes yard for a second straight day! pic.twitter.com/kZyCvahDka
— MLB (@MLB) September 18, 2024
Valdez and Cease were locked in a strong pitcher’s duel. Neither the Astros nor the Padres were really able to put together a number of solid at-bats through the game’s first seven innings.
Dylan Cease, Wicked 89mph Slider. 🤢 pic.twitter.com/A9OVeX82qx
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) September 18, 2024
Cease tossed his first career no-hitter on July 25 in Washington against the Nationals. He took a one-hitter into the ninth before Dubón beat out an infield single to shortstop. Cease struck out Jake Meyers. Padres shortstop Xander Bogaerts booted Altuve’s grounder for an error. Dubón went to third base, and Cease was gone after 103 pitches, The Associated Press reported.
Astros manager Joe Espada made the decision to pull Valdez after seven innings, turning to reliever Kaleb Ort to keep the Padres close with their one-run lead.
Valdez was masterful for the most part on Wednesday afternoon at Petco Park. His usual array of curveballs and sliders were effective in keeping most Padres hitters off-balance. Valdez only gave up five hits, one earned run (Machado’s solo homer), and struck out six, according to MLB.com.
Kaleb Ort Crashed, Burned Against Padres
Yeah, well, San Diego turned into “Slam-Diego” in the bottom of the eighth. Fernando Tatis Jr. led off with a solo home run, his 19th homer this season, for a 2-0 Padres lead. Tatis had an exit velocity of 109.5 mph off his bat. Ort just was not fooling any San Diego hitter at all. Machado came up and took a 3-2 pitch from Ort over the left-field wall, giving him 29 homers for the season and a two-homer day. Donovan Solano was salivating in the batter’s box, hoping he’d get a chance to join the home run parade.
Padres fans had a little more to celebrate. Solano rocketed an Ort 0-1 pitch, also to left-center field, and gave San Diego a 4-0 lead. Espada came out and sent Ort to the showers. Ort didn’t record an out, gave up three hits, and three runs (all earned). Bryan King came on to get all three outs in the San Diego eighth inning, but the damage was done.
Ort became the first Astros pitcher to give up three consecutive homers since Colin McHugh did it against Baltimore on Aug. 29, 2016. Guess who hit one of them? Machado, who was an Oriole at the time, MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart reported. Chris Davis and Mark Trumbo also connected off McHugh pitches that day as well.
Cease came out to start the ninth inning and got one out. He ran into some trouble in the ninth, though, so Padres manager Mike Shildt took Cease out. His line, though, was very impressive. Cease only allowed two hits, struck out five and, of course, didn’t allow a run. Reliever Tanner Hunt came on to get the final two outs for his 21st save this season.
The Astros’ offense was anemic against Cease. They were 0-for-2 in runners in scoring position and left three total on base.
Despite the loss, the Houston Astros are still in first place in the American League West Division. Seattle played the New York Yankees later on Wednesday night. A Mariners loss would help trim the Astros’ Magic Number down a little more.
After Wednesday’s loss, the Astros headed back home to start a four-game series on Thursday against the Los Angeles Angels. Yusei Kikuchi (9-9, 4.29 ERA), who has been lights out for Houston since coming over from the Toronto Blue Jays, gets the starting nod for the Astros. He goes up against the Angels’ José Suarez (1-2, 6.80) at Minute Maid Park.
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