Cease settling in with solid 2nd start vs. Giants

SAN FRANCISCO -- National League West starting pitching could be a force to be reckoned with in 2024.

While the Dodgers' $1 billion offseason that netted Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Shohei Ohtani, who should join their rotation in 2025, generated the eye-popping headlines, Friday afternoon's Giants home opener at Oracle Park offered just a sampling of the premier pitching talent that has arrived elsewhere in the division this season.

Padres right-hander Dylan Cease and Giants reliever-turned-starter Jordan Hicks -- both among the new arrivals -- dueled to a stalemate, each allowing two runs as the game remained tied until second baseman Thairo Estrada drove in the game-winning run with a one-out double off right-hander Enyel De Los Santos to seal a 3-2 walk-off loss for San Diego.

"I loved the way Dylan competed the whole game," manager Mike Shildt said. "I liked the way he got through six and gave us … more than a chance to win."

The Padres lead the Majors with 13 walk-off losses since the beginning of 2023, and their 10-24 record (.294 winning percentage) in one-run games is the worst overall in the same span.

Making his second start with San Diego, Cease struck out seven and gave up the pair of runs on four hits and two walks across six innings. Both free passes issued by Cease were to the leadoff batter -- Jung Hoo Lee in the first inning and LaMonte Wade Jr. in the sixth -- and both came around to score.

In a similar vein, the winning run was scored by Matt Chapman, who reached base on a hit-by-pitch.

"The front end of all their runs scored were free," Shildt said. "I can't say they didn't earn it, but two walks and a hit batter led to all three runs."

Walks aside, Cease was happy with how he executed on Friday. His slider was devastating as ever, getting 13 whiffs on 22 swings and accounting for all seven of his strikeouts. Since his debut season in 2019, Cease has induced 889 swing-and-misses on his signature offering, third most in the Majors behind only the Nationals' Patrick Corbin (977) and the Dodgers' Clayton Kershaw (909).

Perhaps most importantly, Cease has finally had some time to settle in with his new club.

Acquired in a blockbuster trade with the White Sox on March 13, Cease had a frenzied day-plus to prepare to meet his new team in South Korea. He pitched in two exhibition games -- one against the LG Twins in Seoul, the other against the Mariners at Petco Park -- before taking the mound for the real thing last Saturday in San Diego.

For the first time in weeks, really, Cease has been able to go through his normal routine in between starts.

"I think the biggest thing is not feeling rushed in the 'pen, because when you're rushed you're maybe not exactly the most focused. You're just kind of working through it," he said. "As long as there's ample time to kind of work through things and calibrate, it's good."

In his first two starts in a Padres uniform, Cease has allowed five runs (four earned) across 10 2/3 innings for a 3.38 ERA. His teammates like what they're seeing so far, but the missed opportunities they had Friday came back to haunt them as Hicks and the Giants' bullpen combined to hold the Padres to two runs on six hits.

One play, in particular, stood out to Shildt. In the top of the third inning, in which the Padres had already scored the go-ahead run and still had runners on the corners with one out, Jake Cronenworth tapped a grounder to Giants shortstop Nick Ahmed. Ahmed threw to second, where Fernando Tatis Jr. slid in and knocked over Estrada as he popped to his feet.

Estrada managed to get the throw off to first, where Cronenworth beat it easily -- but was ultimately called out due to runner's interference on Tatis' slide.

"I actually loved the play. The call was right," Shildt said. "He was trying to make a really aggressive baseball play. He was trying to beat the force. … It was pretty darn close. And then, you know, the rule's a rule."

The pieces were there for the Padres. But they didn't come together in a game of margins, an unfortunate holdover from the previous season.

"That one run -- one run is always important," Xander Bogaerts said.