{"id":649700,"date":"2026-03-29T02:11:21","date_gmt":"2026-03-29T02:11:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/649700\/"},"modified":"2026-03-29T02:11:21","modified_gmt":"2026-03-29T02:11:21","slug":"dylan-cease-strikes-out-12-in-blue-jays-debut-as-toronto-rallies-for-walk-off-finish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/649700\/","title":{"rendered":"Dylan Cease strikes out 12 in Blue Jays debut as Toronto rallies for walk-off finish"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Dylan Cease is already dominating at his new home up north.<\/p>\n<p>During his Blue Jays debut on Saturday, Cease fanned 12 batters across 5\u2153 innings while giving up just one earned run in Toronto\u2019s 8-7 walk-off home win over the Athletics.<\/p>\n<p>Cease\u2019s 12 strikeouts set a new record for most by a Blue Jays pitcher in their debut for the franchise, topping southpaw David Price\u2019s 11 during his debut back in 2015.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"38926954\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/toronto-blue-jays-pitcher-dylan-124609350.jpg\" alt=\"Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Dylan Cease (84) pitches to the Athletics.\" class=\"wp-image-38926954\"  \/>Dylan Cease throws a pitch in the first inning of the Blue Jays\u2019 8-7, 11-inning win over the A\u2019s on March 28, 2026 in Toronto.   IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n<p>The 30 year old also struck out seven straight batters in one stretch during Saturday\u2019s game, sitting down Athletics catcher Tyler Soderstrom to end the third inning before striking out the side in the fourth and fifth.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat was a blast,\u201d Cease told reporters following the game, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlb.com\/news\/dylan-cease-strikes-out-12-in-blue-jays-debut\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">according to MLB.com<\/a>. \u201cThe minute I walked out, there was cheering and they were being extremely supportive. That was really cool. It\u2019s just an electric atmosphere. I think that really does make a difference.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Blue Jays skipper John Schneider said he was impressed with Cease\u2019s debut outing, adding that he bested teammate Kevin Gausman\u2019s 11 strikeout Opening Day performance.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe one-upped Kevin [Gausman]\u00a0in terms of strikeouts,\u201d Schneider said.<\/p>\n<p>Gausman said he believes that this year\u2019s Blue Jays staff is the most powerful since he arrived in Toronto in 2022.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI really love our pitching staff this year,\u201d Gausman said. \u201cI think it\u2019s the best, stuff-wise, since I\u2019ve been here, and we\u2019ve had great pitching staffs since I\u2019ve been here. <\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"38926957\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/mobbed-teammates-driving-game-winning-124625475.jpg\" alt=\"Toronto Blue Jays players celebrate a win, with several cheering around a teammate in the center.\" class=\"wp-image-38926957\"  \/>Ernie Clement (22) is mobbed by teammates after driving in the game-winning run in the 11th inning during the Blue Jays\u2019  8-7 win over the A\u2019s in Toronto on March 28, 2026. AP<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s what\u2019s exciting for me. The swing-and-miss is probably more than we\u2019ve ever had.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Despite Cease\u2019s performance, Toronto was trailing in the ninth inning before catcher Alejandro Kirk blasted a game-tying solo homer to send the game to extra innings.<\/p>\n<p>Third baseman Ernie Clement was the hero for the Blue Jays with a game-winning single in the 11th inning, marking the team\u2019s second straight walk-off to start the season.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re battling. We\u2019re fighting back. We\u2019re picking guys up,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlb.com\/news\/ernie-clement-walks-it-off-for-blue-jays-in-11th-inning\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Clement said<\/a>. \u201cThat\u2019s what was special about last year\u2019s team, and that\u2019s what will be special about this team. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re never out of it. We\u2019re going to battle, and we\u2019re going to get it done.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dylan Cease is already dominating at his new home up north. During his Blue Jays debut on Saturday,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":649701,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2378],"tags":[5,377,2554,4,3352,185,282,70,2553],"class_list":["post-649700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-toronto-blue-jays","tag-baseball","tag-blue-jays","tag-bluejays","tag-mlb","tag-pitchers","tag-sports","tag-toronto","tag-toronto-blue-jays","tag-torontobluejays"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116310041274751931","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=649700"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649700\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/649701"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=649700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=649700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=649700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}