Padres' Dylan Cease Apologizes to Martin Maldonado After Friday's Game

San Diego Padres starting pitcher Dylan Cease had a masterful outing on the mound in the Padres' 7-2 win over the Washington Nationals, though with a different battery mate than has been the norm all season.

Cease has made 20 starts this season, and all of them except Friday's start had been with Martin Maldonado behind the plate. Elias Diaz stood in for Maldonado on Friday in the first catcher-pitcher alteration this season from manager Mike Shildt.

“Just a different look,” Shildt said. “Get (Díaz) an extra game, see what it looked like.”

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Cease pitched just his second scoreless outing of the season in the game, recording 10 strikeouts through 5.1 innings in the nation's capital. He did not receive a win however, as the Padres didn't take the lead until the top of the ninth. The right-hander had nothing but good things to say of Diaz, however remained critical of himself for his underwhelming season so far.

“He called a great game, caught a great game,” Cease said of Díaz. “Honestly, Martín also did as well. I just didn’t pitch well. I’ve got to give a lot of credit to Diaz and apologize to Martín. I wish I had thrown like that with him. It would be a different story.”

Diaz had a good game himself, drawing a walk and driving home two runs for the Friars. He also showed off on the defensive side, converting a strike 'em out, throw 'em out opportunity to get Cease out of the bottom of the fourth inning.

This outing will hopefully get Cease's season back on track, as he looks far removed from the Cy Young contender he was in his first season with San Diego in 2024. He has a 4.64 ERA, which would be his highest season total since his rookie campaign in 2019, and is pitching below league average with an 89 ERA+. Cease has shown he still has the stuff to be elite at the MLB level this season, however, as he leads all of MLB with 11.5 strikeouts per nine innings.

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The Padres will hope he can continue to produce as they try to tighten their grip on the final Wild Card spot in the National League. They are 1.5 games clear of the San Francisco Giants, and will look to pull even further ahead against the Nats on Saturday at 3:45 p.m. PT.

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