Cease silences Cubs for series win |
CHICAGO — There are some trades that you look back on and think are the ones that got away. For the Chicago Cubs (22-16), Dylan Cease may be that guy, as he took the ball for the San Diego Padres (20-19) Wednesday afternoon at Wrigley Field.
When the Cubs traded Cease to the White Sox in 2017 in exchange for Jose Quintana, the goal was to compete for a World Series title that season and for several years to come. While the Cubs did make the NLCS that season, Quintana never panned out for the Cubs, as he was mediocre at best. Cease, on the other hand, emerged as the Ace of the White Sox staff for several seasons, and despite some issues in each of the past two years, the Padres felt he was worth trading for. Talk about a home run type of move by that franchise as Cease has given them everything they could ask for and more as he dominated the Cubs for a second time this season, 3-0, to clinch the season series. In an era where starting pitchers very seldomly pitch into the seventh, let alone finish the seventh, Cease took it upon himself to take over the game right from the start as he gave the Padres seven much-needed shutout innings. He walked one and scattered just one hit to Yan Gomes while also punching out 12 Cubs hitters. That included striking out the side in his final inning of work as the Cubs had no answers for Padres pitching all day. Coming off his best start of the season, and arguably one of the best of his young career was Hayden Wesneski as he was tasked with going pitch for pitch with Cease. For the most part, Wesneski was dialed in again as he pitched into the sixth inning. He walked one, struck out three, and allowed three earned runs, although most of them came in his final inning of work. It didn't take the Padres long to strike first, as Wesneski hit Luis Arraez to start the game. Arraez would eventually advance to second ahead of the Manny Machado single, and just like that, it was 1-0 San Diego. Given what the Cubs were about to face in Cease, one run would be enough, as the Padres never trailed in this game. Not only did the Padres never trail, but Cease retired the first seven hitters he faced until Gomes connected for an infield single. That would go down as the only hit for the Cubs, as baserunners were scarce all game. Nico Hoerner kept the line moving later in the third after getting hit by a pitch, and it didn't look good at first, but he managed to tough it out and stay in the game. With the score still sitting at 1-0 in the fifth, the San Diego offense started to show signs of life as they finally seemed to time up Wesneski. Luis Campusano started things off with a one-out single before a two-out Arraez single set the Padres offense up. A few pitches later, Fernando Tatis Jr kept the line moving as his single pushed home another run and made things 2-0. Jake Cronenworth added an RBI double shortly after to push the lead to 3-0, which allowed Wesneski to escape the inning without further damage. After hitting Hoerner in the bottom half of the third, Cease began to dominate again and didn't allow another runner until the bottom of the sixth. That came off a Pete Crow-Armstrong walk, but nothing came from that as an inning double play ended that rally. Following the strong outing from Wesneski, it was time for the Cubs bullpen to keep things close as Richard Lovelady, Adbert Alzolay, and Keegan Thompson all saw time on the mound for the Cubs. Although Lovelady and Alzolay tossed scoreless frames, neither of them was as impressive as you would like, even though it was a massive confidence booster for Alzolay. On the other hand, Thompson looked as good as ever this season as he returned from the minor leagues to toss a scoreless ninth and strike out the side in the process. Those outings made him one of the best relievers in 2022, and the Cubs are hoping he can get back to that level. Following a scoreless outing from Wandy Peralta, the Cubs were down to their final outs, with the hard-throwing Robert Suarez on to close things out. When discussing dominating closers, Suarez immediately comes to mind as he pitched a perfect ninth inning, including blowing Cody Bellinger away on a 100MPH heater to end the game. The Cubs will now have Thursday off for their first off day in 16 days before taking on the Pirates at PNC Park this weekend.
