Dylan Cease turned in an impressive first outing as a Toronto Blue Jay Saturday afternoon, holding the Athletics to one run in 5.1 innings.
He departed with 12 strikeouts, three hits allowed and two walks while throwing 90 pitches, 61 of them strikes. It was the most strikeouts by a Blue Jays starter in his first outing with the team, passing David Price’s 11 Ks from his Jays debut in 2015.
Cease also struck out seven batters in a row during Saturday’s start, matching Alek Manoah from 2022 for the club record for consecutive punchouts by a pitcher.
“That was a blast,” Cease said to reporters after the game. “The minute I walked out, there was cheering and they were being extremely supportive. That was really cool. It’s just an electric atmosphere. I think that really does make a difference.”
The Jays and A’s sat tied 1-1 at the time of Cease’s removal in the sixth before Toronto came back from a four-run deficit to win 8-7 in extra innings.
Cease’s start Saturday was the official beginning of his seven-year, $210 million deal, signed as the largest free agent deal in Blue Jays history. He spent last season with the San Diego Padres and had a 4.55 ERA in 32 starts with 215 strikeouts.
Cease was fourth in Cy Young voting the year before and second in 2022 while with the Chicago White Sox.
The 30-year-old right-hander had a 0.93 ERA in three spring training starts this year, allowing just one run over 9.2 innings with 12 strikeouts.
Cease is in his eighth MLB season after being selected in the sixth round of the 2014 MLB Draft.