Starter Dylan Cease and two relievers combined for a one-hitter, lifting the Padres to a 7-0 victory over the Guardians on Saturday night at Progressive Field.
Cease (9-8, 3.76 ERA) struck out 10 batters while pitching seven innings. Reliever Jeremiah Estrada tossed a six-pitch perfect eighth inning followed by a Yuki Matsui scoreless ninth, completing the combined one-hitter.
San Diego’s offense broke out of their slump when they sent nine batters to the plate and scored three runs in the fourth inning. The Padres tacked on four more in the eighth with home runs from David Peralta and Jake Cronenworth.
The Padres are 51-50 and in third place in the National League West.
Cease the day
Cease's day was similar to a dominant start last weekend against Atlanta, where he held the Braves scoreless over six innings while striking out 11 batters and allowing one hit.
The Padres' right-hander allowed two base runners, extending his scoreless streak to 13 innings. Cease also is leading the league in strikeouts with 159.
Bat wake up
Jackson Merrill started the offensive party when he doubled to left field with one out in the fourth inning. A walk by Peralta and a single by Ha-Seong Kim loaded the bases before Luis Campusano smoked a single to left field to give the Padres a 1-0 lead – their first since before the All-Star break.
Luis Arraez followed up with a bases-loaded walk to make it 2-0. Cronenworth then got hit by a 95 mph fastball on the elbow guard to bring in San Diego’s third and final run of the inning.
Tacking more on
Peralta hit a 365-foot solo home run to lead off the eighth inning. After Kim reached on an error and advanced to second base on a wild pitch, Campusano hit his second RBI single of the night to give the Padres a 5-0 lead.
With two outs, Cronenworth hit a two-run homer down the right-field line, extending the lead to 7-0. He is tied with Fernando Tatis Jr. and Jurickson Profar for the team lead with 14.
San Diego right-hander Michael King (7-6, 3.41 ERA) will face Cleveland right-hander Ben Lively (8-5, 3.58) in the series finale at 10:40 a.m. Sunday.