Cease dominates as Padres win series against Astros, 4-0
Credit: USA Today Sports
The San Diego Padres hit back-to-back-to-back home runs en route to series win against AL West leading Houston Astros.
The San Diego Padres and Houston Astros faced off for a rubber match at Petco Park Wednesday evening. This contest showcased elite pitching between starters Framber Valdez and Dylan Cease. They combined to allow just seven hits. Cease would get the better of Valdez as the Padres won the series in fashion.
“He was dominant. He was outstanding,” Manager Mike Shildt said postgame about Cease’s outing. “Just a ton of life. The ball was jumping in the top part of the zone. There was life in this heater, and his slider was filthy. He was in control the whole way.”
San Diego improves to 87-66, while the Astros fall to 82-70. The Padres remain 3.5 games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers for the NL West lead.
The beginning of this contest showed similarities to the loss on Tuesday night.
Early in that game, the Friars failed to score with runners in scoring position. That happened again in this one as in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th innings, the Padres had runners in scoring position but failed to score a single run. In the third inning, the Padres even played for one run after a sacrifice bunt from Jurickson Profar. Fernando Tatis Jr. struck out, and Manny Machado grounded out to end the inning.
Luckily for San Diego. Cease brought his A-game against the Astros. He kept the Astros hitters silent the entire way through. Even though the long balls will be in the highlight reels, Cease was a major reason why the Padres won the series on Wednesday evening.
Machado got the scoring started with a solo shot to center field in the 6th inning, just as he did the previous night. The Padres led 1-0 after six innings.
The bottom of the 8th inning might be one of the more exciting innings all season long for San Diego.
OFF LIKE A ROCKET ? pic.twitter.com/SMJEUvVENS
— San Diego Padres (@Padres) September 19, 2024
Tatis started with a homer, and then Machado and Donovan Solano followed up with homers.
BACK-TO-BACK-TO-BACK pic.twitter.com/ynfNVyzFHj
— San Diego Padres (@Padres) September 19, 2024
That was the first time the Padres hit back-to-back-to-back home runs since 1997 when Chris Gomez, Ricky Henderson, and Quilvio Veras went deep in a row. These home runs tonight would propel the Padres to a big 4-0 lead.
Cease returned to the mound to close the game. He would have finished it off for a complete game shutout. However, Xander Bogaerts let a game-ending double play ground ball go right under his glove. It resulted in the Astros having two runners on with one out. Shildt walked out and replaced Cease with Tanner Scott.
Cease walked off to a standing ovation from a sea of San Diegans.
Scott would strike out Yordan Alvarez, and then Alex Bregman flew out to Brandon Lockridge to end the ball game.
The Padres now host the Chicago White Sox this weekend for the final home series of the season. Joe Musgrove will be on the mound Friday night.
Framber Valdez
Valdez brought that southpaw filth to San Diego. His changeup and curveball had Padres hitters guessing all night long. As soon as he was replaced in the 8th, the Padres started teeing off.
His final line: 7.0 innings, five hits, one earned run, two walks, and six K’s.
Dylan Cease
Cease understood the task at hand. He didn’t allow a hit until the 6th inning as Jason Hayward singled to right field.
He needed his defense to back him up a bit more, as his strikeout numbers were down compared to normal.
His final line: 8.1 innings, two hits, zero runs, zero walks, and five strikeouts.
Chris is a graduate of the University of San Diego. He is the former Sports Editor for the USDVista newspaper. Chris is also an athlete and is huge fan of San Diego sports. Chris has covered the San Diego Loyal, and contributes regularly about the Padres.