BOSTON — The Boston Red Sox had been rolling like a freight train through July, and then Dylan Cease stood on the tracks.
Cease, the American League’s All-Star starter, threw a complete-game one-hit shutout with 12 strikeouts Saturday at Fenway Park, leading the Toronto Blue Jays to a 6-0 victory that handed Boston just its second loss in 18 games. He carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning before Andruw Monasterio led off with a line double down the left-field line. That was it. One hit. Three walks. 120 pitches — a career high.
He struck out the final six batters he faced. The last two, Brandon Valenzuela and Wilyer Abreu, were upheld after ABS challenges on full-count pitches. The one against Abreu came on an 78 mph changeup that caught the outside corner against the left-hander after an eight-pitch battle. Had that call flipped, Cease likely loses the complete game right there. Sometimes the baseball gods make the right call, and the film doesn’t lie.
It was Cease’s fourth career complete game and his first shutout since his no-hitter for the San Diego Padres at Washington on July 25, 2024. He also had a no-hitter broken up by a leadoff single in the ninth inning at San Francisco on July 8. The man keeps knocking on the door of history.
Mixing a sharp slider with his changeup and fastball, Cease induced almost nothing hard. Besides Monasterio’s double, the closest thing to trouble was a deep fly from Red Sox catcher Connor Wong that sailed over the Green Monster — and foul. Umpires ruled it that way on the field, and manager Chad Tracy’s challenge was upheld on review.
MLB.com reporter Keegan Matheson noted decreased velocity in the first inning. By the third, Cease was back to 95 mph and above. You see that sometimes with power arms — they need an inning to find the governor, and then the engine runs clean the rest of the afternoon.
Cease didn’t need much help, but George Springer provided plenty. The Blue Jays DH jumped on a low curveball from Sonny Gray and sent it out for a three-run homer in the third, capping a five-run inning that also included an RBI single from Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and a run-scoring double from Ernie Clement. Gray (12-2) had allowed four total runs across his previous five starts spanning 32⅓ innings. He gave up five in one frame Saturday.
With the shutout, Cease (7-5) lowered his ERA to 2.46, second in the AL behind the Yankees’ Cam Schlittler (2.07) and fifth among all MLB starters. He leads the majors with 167 strikeouts, on pace for his sixth consecutive 200-strikeout season.
The last visiting pitcher to throw a no-hitter at Fenway Park was Jim Bunning, on July 20, 1958. Cease didn’t get there. But on a Saturday afternoon where the shadows crept across the infield and one of the hottest lineups in baseball couldn’t solve him, he got close enough to remind everyone what dominance looks like.
The Red Sox fell to 53-50, seven games behind the first-place Tampa Bay Rays in the AL East, though they still hold a wild-card spot by 2½ games over Seattle. The series finale is set for Sunday, with Toronto’s Kevin Gausman (4-9, 4.51 ERA) facing Boston left-hander Ranger Suárez (4-3, 3.15), who is expected to come off the injured list.
