Blue Jays’ Dylan Cease has bid for his 2nd career no-hitter broken up by Giants in 9th inning

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Dylan Cease of the Toronto Blue Jays took a no-hitter into the ninth inning on Wednesday before the Giants’ Heliot Ramos broke it up a line-drive single to center field.

Cease was lifted after Ramos’ hit and got a standing ovation from the San Francisco crowd. Tyler Rogers came on and got the last three outs on four pitches as the Blue Jays won 10-0.

The 30-year-old Cease threw a career-high 118 pitches, 81 for strikes, as he sought his second career no-hitter and the first solo no-hitter in the majors since 2024. The All-Star right-hander struck out 11 to increase his American League-leading total to 148.

Cease threw a no-hitter for the San Diego Padres at Washington on July 25, 2024. Eight days later, Blake Snell threw one for the Giants. Since then, there have been two combined no-hitters — including one in March by Tatsuya Imai, Steven Okert, Alimber Santa of the Houston Astros — but no pitcher has done it on his own as managers more frequently pull pitchers in the middle of hitless outings because of concern over pitch counts and players’ health.

Thirty-five pitchers have thrown multiple no-hitters. Mike Fiers of the Athletics became the last to do it on May 7, 2019.

Cease set down the first 14 San Francisco batters before he walked Willy Adames with two outs in the fifth. Cease also walked Drew Gilbert leading off the sixth and Rafael Devers with one out in the seventh.

Toronto’s defense made two solid plays to sustain the no-hit bid. With two outs in the seventh, Adames sent with a grounder up the middle, and second baseman Ernie Clement ranged to the left side of the bag and made a nice pickup and throw to first.

Leading off the eighth, Bryce Eldridge hit a drive to deep left-center. Center fielder Daulton Varsho raced to make an excellent catch before running into the wall.

In Toronto’s 9-3 win Tuesday night, the Blue Jays retired the final 15 San Francisco hitters.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

Steve Kroner, The Associated Press