SAN DIEGO (AP) — Dylan Cease pitched brilliantly into the ninth inning and Manny Machado, Fernando Tatis Jr. and Donovan Solano hit consecutive homers in the eighth for the San Diego Padres, who beat the AL West-leading Houston Astros 4-0 on Wednesday.
Machado homered twice for the Padres, who won two of three against the Astros and stayed 2 1/2 games ahead of the Diamondbacks and Mets for the first NL wild card. Houston came in with a five-game division lead over Seattle, which hosted the New York Yankees later.
Cease (14-11), who threw his first career no-hitter on July 25 at Washington, took a one-hitter into the ninth before Mauricio Dubón beat out an infield single to shortstop. Cease struck out Jake Meyers but then shortstop Xander Bogaerts booted Jose Altuve's grounder for an error that allowed Dubón to take third, and that was it for the right-hander after 103 pitches.
Cease retired the first 15 Astros batters before allowing a single to right field by Jason Heyward to open the sixth. Cease then retired the side.
Cease said it was probably the third-best start of his career, following his no-hitter and his near no-hitter against Minnesota in 2022 with the Chicago White Sox. That one was broken up with two outs in the ninth by Luis Arraez, who is now his Padres teammate.
“I remember looking up through six or seven and the pitch count was reasonable and I went up to Rueben (Niebla, the pitching coach), and said, ‘Hey, I’m going to get through the eighth and ninth today,'” Cease said. “He said, ‘Hey, just take it one at a time,’ and I said, ‘OK.’ When you get through six with a low pitch count, it's very easy to dream about going further.”
Cease struck out five and walked none. Tanner Scott got two outs for his 21st save, completing the two-hitter.
“Just attacking the strike zone, mixing it up and relying on my defense, really," Cease said.
Padres manager Mike Shildt called Cease “dominant. He was outstanding. Controlled counts, just a ton of life with everything. The ball was jumping. ... He was in control the whole way."
“Dylan Cease is a special talent,” Shildt added.
Machado, who has 29 homers, lined a leadoff shot to left-center against Framber Valdez in the sixth.
Tatis, who struck out in his first three at-bats, hit reliever Kaleb Ort's first pitch into the first row in left-center leading off the eighth. It was his 19th. Machado followed with a shot deep into the seats in left and Solano hit a liner to left, his seventh. That was it for Ort, who threw just nine pitches.
“That was awesome,” Cease said. “Talk about kind of getting some breathing room right there, it was pretty amazing.”
The Padres are closing in on their third playoff berth since 2020. Their 37-17 record since the All-Star break is the best in the majors.
“We beat a really good club out there,” Machado said. “It's fun. We're playing really good baseball. We beat a really good ballclub that we're probably going to be facing later on, so to go out there and play like we did and have Cease throw like he did, it was a good day.”
Of course, if the Astros and Padres meet again, it will be in the World Series.
“We've been playing postseason baseball for the last month,” Machado said. "Every game counts, man. I mean, it’s fun, man. ... It's a little taste of it. This is not over.
“We've always understood what the goal is all year and nothing's changed. We're going to continue to think that way."
Playing in front of three loud sellout crowds at Petco Park provided an atmosphere that was “playoff-caliber, that's for sure," Shildt said. "All three games were nip-and-tuck.”
Valdez (14-7) went seven innings, allowing one run and five hits while striking out six and walking two.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Padres: Arraez got the day off to rest his sore left knee, which he jammed into home plate while being thrown out on Monday night. Arraez started at DH on Tuesday night.
UP NEXT
Astros: LHP Yusei Kikuchi (9-9, 4.29 ERA) is scheduled to start Thursday night in the opener of a four-game home series against the Los Angeles Angels, who will go with LHP José Suarez (1-2, 6.80).
Padres: RHP Joe Musgrove (6-5, 4.23 ERA) is scheduled to start Friday night's home series opener against the 117-loss Chicago White Sox, who are set to go with LHP Garrett Crochet (6-12, 3.78).
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