Three outs. That's how close Dylan Cease came Wednesday at Oracle Park to the second no-hitter of his career. Heliot Ramos lined a single up the middle in the ninth inning to break it up, and the Toronto Blue Jays settled for a 10-0 dismantling of the San Francisco Giants.
Cease struck out 11, walked three and threw a career-high 118 pitches, 81 for strikes, according to the Associated Press. His strikeout count now sits at 148 on the season, tops in the American League.
How the Dylan Cease No-Hit Bid Ended
The Giants had nothing for eight innings. Then Ramos, with two strikes on him against one of the best swing-and-miss arms in baseball, shot a fastball back through the box. Cease got a standing ovation from the San Francisco crowd on his way off the mound, and MLB.com reports Ramos called him a Cy Young-caliber pitcher afterward. Tyler Rogers needed four pitches to close out the shutout.
Toronto manager John Schneider never reached for the hook. Cease had told his manager exactly where his ceiling was, per MLB.com: "Whatever it takes. In my mind, 130 pitches." You don't hear that number from a starting pitcher in 2026 very often.
Blue Jays No-Hitter Drought Reaches Back to Dave Stieb
The history hanging over the ninth inning was heavy. Toronto hasn't thrown a no-hitter since Dave Stieb did it on September 2, 1990, a drought closing in on 36 years. Several Blue Jays pitchers have carried bids into the ninth over that stretch and lost them, and Cease now knows exactly how that feels.
It stings more because he's finished the job before. Cease threw a no-hitter for San Diego in 2024, and Wednesday would have given the majors their first solo no-no since that season.
What the 10-0 Rout Means for Toronto
The offense turned this into a stress-free chase. Ten unanswered runs meant Cease could attack the zone all night without worrying about one mistake deciding the game, and 81 strikes on 118 pitches is what that freedom looks like.
Zoom out and the picture gets better for Toronto. An All-Star ace leading the AL in strikeouts, working eight-plus scoreless against a big-league lineup in July, is exactly the profile that wins a Cy Young vote and carries a team into October. His next start just became appointment viewing.
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