July was a month to remember for San Diego Padres ace Dylan Cease. The right-hander will look to keep the good times rolling when he takes the mound against the host Pittsburgh Pirates in the opener of a three-game set on Tuesday.
Cease (11-8, 3.42 ERA), who was named the National League Pitcher of the Month for July, went 4-2 with a 2.35 ERA last month while holding hitters to a .143 average. He has won four straight starts, allowing one run and five hits across 27 2/3 innings in that stretch, one that includes a no-hitter against the Washington Nationals on July 25. The lone run came in his last outing on July 31, an 8-1 win against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The 28-year-old, who is 1-0 with a 2.53 ERA in two career starts against Pittsburgh, has a 0.33 ERA and 36 strikeouts during the four-outing stretch.
“Every game we’re playing now is extremely important,” Cease said after the win against the Dodgers. “We need to bring this, continue to bring this focus and intensity and effort to every game we’re playing. We’re really looking good right now.”
Indeed, they are.
After a bumpy first half with lots of ups and downs, the Padres have been on a tear since play resumed after the All-Star break. They’ve won 11 of 14 and have won five straight series, most recently taking two of three from the Colorado Rockies.
“We’ve been able to do a lot of things consistently together,” Padres manager Mike Shildt said. “Starting pitching, the ability to score runs, those two go in concert with each other. We play our clean defense and do our smart baserunning. That’s usually a good recipe for shaking hands consistently.”
San Diego entered Monday’s major league schedule as the second wild card in the National League with a half-game advantage in the race. The Padres are also only 4 1/2 games behind the Dodgers for top spot in the NL West.
The Pirates, meanwhile, head into the series eyeing a rebound after blowing a 4-0 lead in Sunday’s 6-5 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks. The setback, their third in the past four games, resulted in them dropping the series and left them 3 1/2 games back of the final wild card in the National League, held by Arizona.
“Not finishing was the story of the two games we lost in this series,” Pittsburgh manager Derek Shelton said. “We did not execute pitches with two strikes, and we have to.”
With his team up by a pair, reliever Colin Holderman came on in the seventh inning and walked the first two batters before surrendering a three-run homer to Joc Pederson to give the Diamondbacks the lead.
“It’s just frustrating when you don’t win,” Pirates All-Star outfielder Bryan Reynolds said. “It happens. You’ve just got to bounce back from it. We were right there in all of them. Sometimes things happen. They got the better end of it twice. We’ve just got to move forward and get a hot streak.”
Bailey Falter (5-7, 3.95) will get the start for Pittsburgh on Tuesday. The lefty has a 16.20 ERA in 1 2/3 innings in two appearances (zero starts) against the Padres, allowing three runs on three hits.
–Field Level Media
