MLB

Houston Astros at San Diego Padres

· Major League Baseball
Houston Astros
82-70, 40-38 Away
Final
0 - 4
San Diego Padres
87-66, 42-36 Home

Cease pitches into the 9th and Machado hits 2 of Padres' 4 homers in a 4-0 win vs Astros

Machado homered twice for the Padres, who won two of three against the Astros and stayed 2 1/2 games ahead of the Diamondbacks and Mets for the first NL wild card. Houston came in with a five-game division lead over Seattle, which hosted the New York Yankees later.

Cease (14-11), who threw his first career no-hitter on July 25 at Washington, took a one-hitter into the ninth before Mauricio Dubón beat out an infield single to shortstop. Cease struck out Jake Meyers but then shortstop Xander Bogaerts booted Jose Altuve's grounder for an error that allowed Dubón to take third, and that was it for the right-hander after 103 pitches.

Cease retired the first 15 Astros batters before allowing a single to right field by Jason Heyward to open the sixth. Cease then retired the side.

Cease said it was probably the third-best start of his career, following his no-hitter and his near no-hitter against Minnesota in 2022 with the Chicago White Sox. That one was broken up with two outs in the ninth by Luis Arraez, who is now his Padres teammate.

“I remember looking up through six or seven and the pitch count was reasonable and I went up to Rueben (Niebla, the pitching coach), and said, ‘Hey, I’m going to get through the eighth and ninth today,'” Cease said. “He said, ‘Hey, just take it one at a time,’ and I said, ‘OK.’ When you get through six with a low pitch count, it's very easy to dream about going further.”

Cease struck out five and walked none. Tanner Scott got two outs for his 21st save, completing the two-hitter.

“Just attacking the strike zone, mixing it up and relying on my defense, really," Cease said.

Padres manager Mike Shildt called Cease “dominant. He was outstanding. Controlled counts, just a ton of life with everything. The ball was jumping. ... He was in control the whole way."

“Dylan Cease is a special talent,” Shildt added.

Machado, who has 29 homers, lined a leadoff shot to left-center against Framber Valdez in the sixth.

Tatis, who struck out in his first three at-bats, hit reliever Kaleb Ort's first pitch into the first row in left-center leading off the eighth. It was his 19th. Machado followed with a shot deep into the seats in left and Solano hit a liner to left, his seventh. That was it for Ort, who threw just nine pitches.

“That was awesome,” Cease said. “Talk about kind of getting some breathing room right there, it was pretty amazing.”

The Padres are closing in on their third playoff berth since 2020. Their 37-17 record since the All-Star break is the best in the majors.

“We beat a really good club out there,” Machado said. “It's fun. We're playing really good baseball. We beat a really good ballclub that we're probably going to be facing later on, so to go out there and play like we did and have Cease throw like he did, it was a good day.”

Of course, if the Astros and Padres meet again, it will be in the World Series.

“We've been playing postseason baseball for the last month,” Machado said. "Every game counts, man. I mean, it’s fun, man. ... It's a little taste of it. This is not over.

“We've always understood what the goal is all year and nothing's changed. We're going to continue to think that way."

Playing in front of three loud sellout crowds at Petco Park provided an atmosphere that was “playoff-caliber, that's for sure," Shildt said. "All three games were nip-and-tuck.”

Valdez (14-7) went seven innings, allowing one run and five hits while striking out six and walking two.

TRAINER'S ROOM

Padres: Arraez got the day off to rest his sore left knee, which he jammed into home plate while being thrown out on Monday night. Arraez started at DH on Tuesday night.

UP NEXT

Astros: LHP Yusei Kikuchi (9-9, 4.29 ERA) is scheduled to start Thursday night in the opener of a four-game home series against the Los Angeles Angels, who will go with LHP José Suarez (1-2, 6.80).

Padres: RHP Joe Musgrove (6-5, 4.23 ERA) is scheduled to start Friday night's home series opener against the 117-loss Chicago White Sox, who are set to go with LHP Garrett Crochet (6-12, 3.78).

How can I watch Houston Astros vs. San Diego Padres?
  • TV Channel: Astros at Padres 2022 MLB Baseball, is broadcasted on MLB.TV.
  • Online streaming: Sign up for Fubo.

Matchup Prediction

Padres: 52.4%
Astros: 47.6%
*According to ESPN's Basketball Power Index

Scoring Summary

9th Inning Bregman flied out to right.
9th Inning Alvarez struck out swinging.
9th Inning Scott relieved Cease
9th Inning Altuve grounded into fielder's choice to shortstop, Dubón to second, Dubón safe at third on fielding error by shortstop Bogaerts.
9th Inning Meyers struck out looking.
9th Inning Dubón reached on infield single to shortstop.

Statistics

https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/mlb/500/hou.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originHOU https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/mlb/500/sd.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originSD
1 Games Played 1
1 Team Games Played 1
0 Hit By Pitch 0
12 Ground Balls 13
6 Strikeouts 8
0 Runs Batted In 4
0 Sacrifice Hit 1
2 Hits 9
0 Stolen Bases 0
0 Walks 2
0 Catcher Interference 0
0 Runs 4
0 Ground Into Double Play 1
0 Sacrifice Flies 0
30 At Bats 32
0 Home Runs 4
0 Grand Slam Home Runs 0
9 Runners Left On Base 13
0 Triples 0
0 Game Winning RBIs 1
0 Intentional Walks 0
0 Doubles 1
12 Fly Balls 12
0 Caught Stealing 0
109 Pitches 112
0 Games Started 0
0 Pinch At Bats 0
0 Pinch Hits 0
0.0 Player Rating 0.0
1 Is Qualified 1
0 Is Qualified In Steals 0
2 Total Bases 22
30 Plate Appearances 35
0.0 Projected Home Runs 648.0
0 Extra Base Hits 5
-1.8 Runs Created 6.6
.067 Batting Average .281
.000 Pinch Hit Average .000
.067 Slugging Percentage .688
.000 Secondary Average .469
.067 On Base Percentage .324
.133 OBP Pct + SLG Pct 1.011
1.0 Ground To Fly Ball Ratio 1.1
-1.8 Runs Created Per 27 Outs 7.2
2.0 Batter Rating 39.0
0.0 At Bats Per Home Run 8.0
0.00 Stolen Base Percentage 0.00
3.63 Pitches Per Plate Appearance 3.20
.000 Isolated Power .406
0.00 Walk To Strikeout Ratio 0.25
.000 Walks Per Plate Appearance .057
-.067 Secondary Average Minus Batting Average .188
0.0 Runs Produced 8.0
0.0 Runs Ratio 1.0
0.1 Patience Ratio 0.7
0.1 Balls In Play Average 0.3
54.5 MLB Rating 91.0
0.0 Offensive Wins Above Replacement 0.0
0.0 Wins Above Replacement 0.0

Game Information

Petco Park

Location: San Diego, California
Attendance: 42,883 | Capacity:

2024 American League West Standings

TEAM W L PCT GB STRK
Houston 88 73 .547 - W2
Seattle 85 77 .525 3.5 W4
Texas 78 84 .481 10.5 W3
Oakland 69 93 .426 19.5 L3
Los Angeles 63 99 .389 25.5 L6

2024 National League West Standings

TEAM W L PCT GB STRK
Los Angeles 98 64 .605 - W5
San Diego 93 69 .574 5 L1
Arizona 89 73 .549 9 W1
San Francisco 80 82 .494 18 L1
Colorado 61 101 .377 37 L3
Full Standings