Washington Nationals news & notes: Nats no-hit by Dylan Cease; swept by Padres in D.C.

Notes and quotes on the Nationals being no-hit for the 2nd time in Washington’s franchise history (2005-present)…

NO-NO IN D.C.:

San Diego Padres’ starter Dylan Cease held the Washington Nationals hitless through 4 ²⁄₃ innings when he faced the club in Petco Park back on June 26th, before now-former-Nats’ infielder Nick Senzel singled to break up Cease’s bid for the second no-hitter in franchise history.

Going into his second start of the year against Davey Martinez’s crew, the 28-year-old right-hander was coming off back-to-back, one-hit outings in which he gave up early hits, but did pile up Ks with 21 in 13 IP in consecutive wins.

On Thursday afternoon in the nation’s capital, Cease got it right, waiting out a rain delay in the top of the first inning which stretched on for 76 minutes, then taking the mound in the series finale in D.C. and tossing the first no-hitter by a Padres’ starter since Joe Musgrove’s no-no in 2021.

It was just the, “… second time in Nationals’ history (2005-pres.) that Washington [was] no-hit,” with the last on August 9, 2023 at Philadelphia (Michael Lorenzen).

Cease walked three, struck out nine of the 28 batters he faced, recorded 18 swinging strikes (11 on his slider), and collected 15 called strikes, (nine on his four-seam fastball).

“It was a magnificent performance,” Padres’ skipper Mike Shildt said after the game, as quoted on MLB.com.

“I’ve been close,” Cease told reporters, including MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell, of previous bids for a no-hitter in his career.

“And to finally get it done, it’s one of those things that just feels so remarkable, and hard to believe. To be able to do it — to go out and experience it — I really don’t even know how to feel. I’m just happy.”

On the other side — it was seen as remarkable as well.

“It always stinks when you’re on the side of being no-hit,” Nats’ manager Davey Martinez told reporters after his club was swept in three-straight with the loss.

“But [Cease] was really good. He was good when we faced him over there. Today, he had both breaking balls with great shape, which we knew coming in, but it was really, really good. He kept our hitters off-balance all game. I watched him all game and he never really gave us much to hit. … [I]t makes it tough when he’s around the plate with it. And threw his fastball when he needed to, and as you could see at the end there I think he threw the last one at 100 [MPH]. So he was good. He was good. I tip my cap to him. He was really good today.”

Martinez knew there was potential for trouble going into the game, though he didn’t exactly predict a no-hitter (he did come close, in his own account).

What was the Nationals’ approach going into the game?

“You’ve got to get him in the zone, one, and if you fall behind it’s tough,” Martinez said.

“But you can’t — for me, when you face a guy like that you can’t cover everything, but it’s also hard because he’s throwing everything for strikes, whether it was a curveball, whether it was a slider, he located his fastball a couple times to James [Wood]. So it made it very difficult for the hitters today. And he’s been pitching well. We watched him before they came into the series, and I said, ‘This guy — if his stuff is on, he’s going to be tough to hit.’”

CORBIN’S EFFORT:

Patrick Corbin (with some help from his teammates) snapped an 11-start winless streak (0-6, with the Nationals 1-10 in his outings) with a strong, six-inning turn in the rotation against the Cincinnati Reds last week.

In the appearance, in the “second-half”opener, Corbin earned his first (totally meaningless pitcher) win since May 10th, holding Reds’ hitters to a run on three hits in six innings, over which he struck out six without walking a batter.

“Corbin was good. Corbin was really good,” manager Davey Martinez said after the win in the nation’s capital.

“He pitched really well. That’s what we needed after four days off.”

Photo by Jess Rapfogel/Getty Images

Corbin finished his 20th start of the final year of his 6-year/$140M deal in D.C., with a 5.35 ERA, 4.50 FIP, 36 walks (2.92 BB/9), 79 Ks (6.41 K/9), and a .297/.349/.492 line against over 111 IP.

On Thursday afternoon in Nationals Park, Corbin got five starts in, loading the bases with a one-out single and walk, and a two-out free pass, before a 76-minute rain-delay … but it did not end the starter’s day.

Corbin returned to the mound and gave up a base-clearing single, 3-0, then stayed on the mound for six more innings, and 109 pitches overall in seven strong, in which he the three early runs were the only ones he allowed.

He recorded just seven swinging strikes, five on his cutter, but he did get 21 called strikes, nine each on his sinker and slider, two on his fastball, and one on his cutter.

Martinez talked after the game about the decision-making in sticking with Corbin even after the delay.

“We have a little thing about an hour and a half after or an hour and 45 minutes, so I thought we were in a good position running him back out there. And like I said, he did awesome,” he explained, as quoted by MASN’s Bobby Blanco.

“I’m going to give a lot of credit to Corbin,” Martinez added.

“He was amazing. He really was. The first inning was a little rough. We had the rain delay. He sat around here for a little while, went back out there, he gave up the three runs. But after that, at first I thought, man, our bullpen is going to be messed up going into this weekend. But for him to give us seven innings at (109) pitches was phenomenal. I’ve known that about Patrick. Patrick, you give him the ball and he doesn’t want to come out of the game and he’s gonna give you the innings. I tried to get as many outs as he (could). So he was really good.”

JOSIAH GRAY TJS:

Davey Martinez confirmed last week Josiah Gray was headed for surgery on his right elbow.

At that point, however, Washington’s manager didn’t know if their 26-year-old would have a full-on Tommy John surgery or an internal brace procedure (or both)?

“He’s going to have surgery,” Martinez told reporters in his pregame press conference in Nationals Park. “He has a slight tear of his UCL.

“At this point, he’s going to have the surgery. We don’t know whether they’re going to do the brace or the full [Tommy John surgery]. Only time will tell when they go in there, and explore, and see how bad the tear is. He’s going be out a while.”

“It got looked at by Dr. [Keith] Meister over the All-Star break and we found a little partial tear in UCL,” Gray explained, as quoted by MASN’s Bobby Blanco.

“So we’re gonna opt for elbow surgery here. It’s gonna, obviously, end the year for me. I got a long road ahead, but that was kind of what the doctor saw and we got that opinion from him and we’re kind of going to hit the ground running.”

GM and President of Baseball Operations Mike Rizzo talked with The Sports Junkies on 106.7 the FAN on Wednesday about Gray’s future and what he told the Nationals’ young-ish starter going into the procedure.

Photo by Jess Rapfogel/Getty Images

“I told Jo-jo when he left for the airport, ‘You’re not dying. This isn’t a death sentence, we’ve been through this 1,000 times before. It’s Tommy John surgery so let’s get after it and get the surgery,’” Rizzo told The Junkies.

“‘[Dr. Keith Meister] is a good surgeon, he’s done a million of these things, we’ve rehabbed a million of them. Guys that have had this have had 10 and 15-year careers, All-Star careers, MVPs all sorts of things, it’s not a death sentence by any means.”

But, Rizzo noted, there is always a long road back for pitchers after the surgery.

“‘It’s going to be a year of loneliness and hard work and determination and you’re gonna find out who you are as a person because you’re gonna be stuck in West Palm Beach for a long time in the hot summer days working out by yourself practically,” he explained.

“It’s time to have a gut check and get through this thing and come out of it a better pitcher than you went into it.

“‘You’re gonna have a healthy elbow, you’re gonna work on every other portion of your game and your body and when we start throwing again it will be big mechanical tweaks so that we don’t hurt the elbow again, so you got to be up for all that.’”

He also gave Gray something to look forward to going in to the process.

“I told him, I said, ‘Hey, this time next year you might be my big trade deadline acquisition you coming off the injured list to pitch for us.’”

After Wednesday night’s game, Martinez updated reporters on what he’d learned.

“He had reconstruction,” the skipper said. “He’s going to miss time, as we all know. But he’s doing well. He feels good about it. I think he’s going to try to come back tomorrow to see all the guys.

“He’s got a long road, he knows that. But knowing him, he’s going to work really hard to get back.”

Subsequent reports noted Gray did in the end have TJS/full ligament replacement and the internal brace procedure on his elbow.