The Padres won Tuesday night, but the enduring highlight from the outing of Padres starter Dylan Cease was San Diego's new ace seemingly refusing to come out of the game. After Cease walked Rhys Hoskins with two outs in the bottom of the sixth inning, manager Mike Shildt appeared ready to at least pay him a visit on the mound, but Cease wanted no part of it. After Cease successfully waved off his manager, he then struck out Blake Perkins to get out of the inning.
Dylan Cease, Refusing to Leave...and then getting his 7th K. pic.twitter.com/JIzgBzYkyH
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) April 17, 2024
It isn't quite Hall of Famer Mike Mussina screaming at Joe Torre to stay in the dugout, but it's along the same lines. A few years ago, I gave credit to Marlins ace and eventual Cy Young winner Sandy Alcantara credit for demanding his manager leave him in, too. It's a cool thing to see when a big-time pitcher exudes the kind of confidence and swagger to pull a move like this without throwing a temper tantrum.
It was the middle of March when the Padres traded for Cease. He was brought in to be a difference-maker. He's essentially been asked to be a replacement for 2023 NL Cy Young winner Blake Snell and he's making good on that promise thus far.
In six innings Tuesday night against the Brewers -- who had one of the best offenses in baseball heading into the week -- Cease allowed just one run on two hits while striking out seven.
Meanwhile, the Padres are on a roll. Through April 7, they were 5-7 and hadn't won a series yet. The win Tuesday night means they've now won three straight series over good teams in the Cubs (10-7), Dodgers (12-8) and Brewers (10-6). San Diego has won six of eight and -- even though it's far too early to do anything like scoreboard watch -- sit just one game back of the Dodgers in the NL West.
As for Cease, through four starts with his new ballclub, he's 2-1 with a 1.99 ERA, 0.93 WHIP and 27 strikeouts in 22 2/3 innings -- oh, and one boss move telling his boss to scram.
