Blue Jays Manager John Schneider Explains Dylan Cease Decision Against Giants
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Leading into the All-Star break, the Toronto Blue Jays are looking to remain in contention for an American League wild-card spot. It's also a stretch that could help determine the front office's path at the trade deadline. It is going to be easier said than done with a nine-game road trip on the West Coast.
After losing two out of three to the Seattle Mariners in a rematch of the American League Championship Series last October, Toronto dropped two out of three games to kick off the trip.
After the series opener to the San Francisco Giants on Monday night resulted in another loss, John Schneider's team rebounded to win the final two games of the series to even their trip at 3-3.
They close things out before the All-Star break with three games in Southern California against the San Diego Padres beginning on Friday night.
On Wednesday afternoon against the Giants, right-hander Dylan Cease was three outs away from tossing the first Blue Jays no-hitter in 36 years. However, Schneider faced a big decision entering the bottom of the ninth with a 10-0 lead: Did he let Cease finish the game or go to his bullpen?
Blue Jays Manager John Schneider Explains Dylan Cease Decision
Cease had thrown 115 pitches through eight innings and struck out 11 San Francisco batters. However, three pitches into the bottom of the ninth inning, Heliot Ramos singled to center to break up Cease's no-hitter. Schneider decided to leave Cease after 115 pitches through eight innings.
“I’m a fan of baseball. If a guy has a chance to throw a no-hitter, you let him do it, and I think you make the adjustments after that,” Schneider said, per Keegan Matheson of MLB.com.
“Dylan, he’s done it before, and he’s really durable. He’s in the category where you can be pretty aggressive with it. It’s not very often you get to see that, so if I can let a player have that opportunity, I’m going to do it every single time.”
In this day and age, leaving in a pitcher with over 100 pitches thrown is unheard of with analytics taking over sports. Good luck finding a pitcher who even gets to go through an opponent's lineup for a third time.
It never happens.
Good for Schneider for making the decision he did with Cease. It also helped to have a 10-0 lead, which included five runs in the first inning before Cease even took the mound to throw his first pitch.
How rare is it for a pitcher to try to complete a no-hitter in this day and age? On Sunday afternoon, Miami Marlins manager Clayton McCullough was faced with the same decision, with Eury Pérez throwing seven perfect innings against the Athletics.
Through seven innings, the Marlins right-hander threw 92 pitches and was six outs away from a perfect game. He was lifted by McCullough and the Miami bullpen nearly blew an 8-0 lead with six outs to go and had to hold on for a 9-8 victory.
That is why Schneider's decision was an old-school one, but one where he was going to let his pitcher finish what he started. It also helps that the All-Star break is next week, which gives him some extended time off in between starts. Props to Schneider for letting his pitcher try to finish what he started.
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Scott Roche has covered both college and professional sports for nearly three decades for various outlets. Scott has covered the MLB, NHL, and college sports and he is someone always looking for a good rumor, no matter which sport it is.