Cease (8-8) limited the Braves to a hit and three walks while striking out 11 batters in his six dominant innings. Jeremiah Estrada, Adrián Morejón, and Robert Suarez followed with a scoreless inning.
David Peralta got the scoring started for San Diego in the second inning after he hit a ground-rule double to drive in Donovan Solano and take a 1-0 lead.
The Padres gained a 2-0 lead after Luis Arraez doubled in Tyler Wade from second base in the fifth inning.
Peralta, who had three hits, struck again in the sixth with an RBI single for a 3-0 Padres lead.
Manny Machado contributed by hitting a 403-foot solo home run to center field in the eighth inning – one of his three hits for San Diego.
San Diego got their fifth shutout of the season and improved to 50-48 with one game remaining before the All-Star break.
Here are three takeaways:
CEASE MASTERCLASS
Cease had a 5.88 ERA in his last 11 games leading up to Saturday, a stretch in which he allowed 13 home runs and a .279 batting average. Saturday’s performance was the fourth game this season Cease went at least six innings while allowing one hit.
The only hit Cease allowed on Saturday came off a broken bat soft dribbler down the third base line from Marcell Ozuna. The Braves' biggest threat through Ceases’s six innings came in the fifth when he allowed two one-out walks but struck out Eddie Rosario on a slider to get out of the jam.
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The right-hander retired 11 of the final 12 batters he faced and threw 69 of his 106 pitches for strikes.
Cease also set a Padres record with 149 strikeouts before the All-Star game.
FUTURE LOOKS BRIGHT
The Padres’ number one and MLB’s sixth-ranked prospect, Ethan Salas, took part in Saturday’s All-Star Futures Game. He popped out in his first at-bat in the second inning and beat out an infield single in the fourth.
Left-hander Robert Snelling, who is San Diego’s second-best and MLB’s 46th-best prospect, also saw some action on Saturday by getting out a bases-loaded jam in the fourth inning.
NL WILD CARD RACE
San Diego was one game shy of reaching a season-high for consecutive losses until Saturday’s game. Their past week of inconsistency has bumped them out of the playoff standings.
The Padres are one game behind the New York Mets (49-45) for third and final National League Wild Card spot.
Right-hander Randy Vásquez (2-4, 4.66 ERA) will face left-hander Chris Sale (12-3, 2.74) to close out the series finale at 1:10 p.m. on Sunday afternoon.