Toronto's Dylan Cease loses shot at second career no-hitter in 9th inning of dominant effort vs. Giants

Toronto Blue Jays starter Dylan Cease was three outs away from his second career no-hitter on Wednesday in a dominant effort against the San Francisco Giants.

But Heliot Ramos broke up the bid with a clean single to shallow center field to lead off the bottom of the ninth inning.

That pitch marked the last of Cease’s day as he left for the dugout with his Blue Jays holding a 10-0 lead that stood as the final score.

Familiar territory for Cease

Cease previously threw a no-hitter as a member of the San Diego Padres in 2024 in a 3-0 win over the Washington Nationals. That was the second no-hitter in Padres history.

Wednesday marked the second time in Cease’s career that he’s lost a no-hit bid in the ninth inning. He was one out of way from no-hitting the Minnesota Twins in 2022 as a member of the Chicago White Sox when Luis Arraez broke it up with a single.

A combined effort by the Houston Astros on May 25 against the Texas Rangers remains MLB’s only no-hitter of the season and its only no-hitter since 2024. Blake Snell’s no-hit effort against the Cincinnati Reds as a member of the Giants on Aug 2, 2024 remains MLB’s last solo no-hitter.

Dave Stieb’s no-hitter against Cleveland in 1990 remains the only no-hitter in Blue Jays history.

Cease settles for 8-inning gem

Cease is in the midst of one of the best campaigns of his eight-season MLB career in his first year with Toronto. He had his best stuff against the Giants on Wednesday.

Cease was at 107 pitches through seven innings, then sat through a 31-pitch top of the eighth as Toronto plated two runs. But John Schneider sent him back out for the bottom of the eighth, and Cease rewarded his manager's confidence with a 1-2-3 frame that featured two strikeouts to raise his tally to 11.

Cease that took the mound again for the ninth with the green light to complete the no-hitter before Ramos broke it up. He finished the day with 11 strikeouts, 3 walks, 1 hit and no earned runs on 118 pitches, 81 of which were strikes.

With Wednesday’s effort, Cease lowered his 2026 ERA to 2.56.

Cease’s effort was a rare bright spot for the Blue Jays, who have disappointed this season in the aftermath of last year’s trip to the World Series. With Wednesday’s win, they moved to 11 games behind the first-place Tampa Bay Rays in the AL East at 44-49.

Toronto’s best shot at returning to the World Series would likely have to come as a wild card. As of Wednesday, Toronto was three games out of the AL wild-card picture with 69 games remaining in the season.