Luis Arraez breaks up Dylan Cease's no-hitter in 9th, Twins lose 13-0 to White Sox

CHICAGO – Dylan Cease threw a slider down the middle, and Luis Arraez popped the ball off his bat toward right field. As the line drive sailed over Romy Gonzalez's head and dropped to the grass in no-man's land, the second baseman hopped up and down, as if he had just stubbed his toe or stepped into a ice-cold puddle.

Cease put his hands on his knees and hung his head on the mound as Arraez settled on first base. The Twins dugout gave a standing ovation.

That wasn't the winning hit by any means. The Twins still lost 13-0 to the White Sox on Saturday in one of their most demoralizing losses of the season. But Arraez — in the lead for the AL batting title — came to the plate with two outs in the ninth as the Twins' last hope with Cease poised to throw a no-hitter.

It would have been the 10th time in Twins-Senators history that an opposing pitcher had no-hit the team, and the first since the Angels' Jered Weaver did so on May 2, 2012. It would have been a first for 26-year-old Cease and the fourth in the major leagues in 2022.

"I'm sure he wanted to end it as much as I wanted it," Cease told the Fox broadcast after the game. He added that he didn't want to give Arraez too much to work with but was also trying to not fall behind in the count and walk him. So he tried to throw him down, but Arraez and his .318 batting average caught up to it.

The 26-year-old Cease still managed a one-hitter in a complete game, improving to 13-6 while lowering his ERA to 2.13 in 27 starts. He collected seven strikeouts with two walks and heard the 31,655 announced fans at Guaranteed Rate Field chant his name on several occasions as Chicago improved to 67-66, a game behind the second-place Twins (67-64) in the AL Central. The Twins remain a game behind first-place Cleveland.

Arraez was not available to comment about breaking up the no-no. But Gio Urshela said Arraez was "the perfect guy" to come up in that situation and spare the Twins some embarrassment.

Urshela said Cease has pitched well all year, particularly with his fastball and breaking pitches.

"His highest fastball, he always throws hard," Urshela said. "He makes no mistakes in the zone."

Conversely, the Twins' pitching predicament could not have been more opposite from what Cease was serving. Tyler Mahle, making his first start since coming off the injured list with right shoulder fatigue, lasted just two innings. He gave up four consecutive hits to start the first inning, including a three-run homer for Eloy Jimenez that put the Twins down 4-0.

Mahle left his third start for the Twins on Aug. 17 early when his velocity dipped into the 80s and his shoulder grew fatigued. That same issue plagued him again by the second inning Saturday, and the Twins pulled him with right shoulder inflammation.

Mahle said he felt a little sore but wasn't in extreme pain. He was frustrated, considering he felt good through the bullpens and lives he threw while on the IL only to perform so poorly in an important divisional game.

"From talking with the trainers, my belief is that he's going to be not going to throw a baseball for a period of time," Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. "… I'm not closing the book on him this season pitching for us. But he's going to be down for now."

Aaron Sanchez, whom the Twins had relied on to start in Mahle's place while he was out, pitched five innings and gave up all his runs and hits in the fourth, the damage coming from a three-run homer by Romy Gonzalez.

Rather than use more bullpen arms with the Twins already down 7-0, Baldelli put second baseman Nick Gordon on the mound in the eighth. He then had to put another position player, Jermaine Palacios, in for Gordon when Gordon gave up a Seby Zavala two-run single and an Elvis Andrus grand slam.

But at least the Twins prevented Cease from making history.

"I don't want to get no-hit. We can say it doesn't matter. 'If you lose the game, who cares?' I'm not saying that," Baldelli said. "I wanted to get a hit, and I wanted to get another hit and do whatever we could to battle back. … What happened out there, I'll take that over getting no-hit anytime."