Dylan Cease Throws 2nd No-Hitter of 2024 MLB Season as Fans Celebrate Padres Star

Welcome to the history books, Dylan Cease.

The right-hander threw the second no-hitter in San Diego Padres franchise history and led his team to a 3-0 victory over the Washington Nationals on Thursday. He struck out nine and walked three in the dominant performance.

It was just the second no-hitter of the season after Ronel Blanco of the Houston Astros threw one against the Toronto Blue Jays in April.

Cease's outing led to plenty of reaction on social media:

Retiring CJ Abrams for the final out was probably quite the relief for Cease, who came painfully close to recording a no-hitter in 2022 when he was a member of the Chicago White Sox. Luis Arráez, who is now teammates with the pitcher on the Padres, hit a single for the Minnesota Twins when Cease was one out away from a no-hitter in that outing.

The 28-year-old now has a no-hitter to go with his near-miss.

He joined Joe Musgrove (April 2021) as the only Padres pitcher to record one even though he and the rest of his teammates needed to wait through a rain delay of more than an hour before Thursday's game even started.

Every no-hitter seemingly always features an excellent defensive play or moment when there's some drama, and Thursday's came in the fifth inning.

Xander Bogaerts got his glove on a looping hit from Juan Yepez but was unable to pull it in for a catch. Fortunately for the Padres and Cease, Jackson Merrill was in the right place at the right time to preserve the no-hitter:

This was anything but a fluke performance, though.

Cease has been absolutely dominant of late, as ESPN's Jeff Passan highlighted:

San Diego will need him to continue pitching at an excellent level if it is going to play well into October. It is just a half-game ahead of the St. Louis Cardinals for the final spot in a crowded National League wild-card race.

Should the Padres reach the postseason, they will likely hand the ball to Cease as often as possible.