The Toronto Blue Jays lost 4-3 against the New York Yankees on Sunday afternoon, but were still able to win the series against their divisional rivals.
Though Toronto had a good weekend overall, every loss is critical at this time of the year. The Jays are now 61-65 on the season and they've fallen back into last place in the American League East.
As of this posting, they are 1.0 games back in the battle for the third wild card spot. Despite the loss, right-hander Dylan Cease continued to pitch well, giving up just two earned runs on two hits and three walks over 6.1 innings.
Cease, who passed the 200-strikeout plateau with the performance, now has an ERA of 2.42.
As noted by Sarah Langs of MLB.com, Cease is now in illustrious company. He's passed the 200-strikeout mark in six straight years, tying Clayton Kershaw, Felix Hernandez, Randy Johnson, Bert Blyleven, Mickey Lolich, Sam McDowell and Sandy Koufax for the fourth-longest streak in baseball history.
Only Tom Seaver (9), Max Scherzer (8), and Chris Sale, Roger Clemens and Walter Johnson (7) have had longer consecutive 200-strikeout season streaks.
Signed to a seven-year, $210 million deal in the offseason, the 30-year-old Cease has been one of the best pitchers in the game this year. He started the All-Star Game for the American League and will be in contention for the American League Cy Young.
His 201 strikeouts have come in just 137.2 innings, as he missed a brief stretch because of a hamstring injury that required a brief injured list stint. Cease has a 1.06 WHIP, well below his career average of 1.24.
Though he has occasional control issues still, he's been exceptional at limiting contact, especially hard contact.
He has a 1.71 ERA over his last seven outings.
Coming up for Toronto
The Jays will be off on Monday before heading to Tampa Bay for the start of the series with the American League-leading Rays. Right-hander Jose Soriano will take the ball in that game while the Rays haven't announced a starter yet.
Soriano is 9-6 with a 3.16 ERA between his time with the Los Angeles Angels and Blue Jays. The Jays acquired him at the trade deadline in a move that sent top prospect Arjun Nimmala to LA.
Toronto has six straight road games against the Rays and Yankees before the schedule opens up in a very favorable way.