On Thursday at Nationals Park, Washington Nationals pitcher Cade Cavalli flirted with history, taking a no-hitter into the seventh inning before settling for a dominant 7-0 victory over the Chicago Cubs that avoided a three-game sweep. Cavalli, who turns 28 on Friday, retired the first 15 batters he faced and finished with 10 strikeouts across a career-high eight scoreless innings. The right-hander surrendered his only hit with two outs in the seventh when Chicago’s Michael Busch blooped an opposite-field single to shallow left field.
The performance marked a stellar milestone for Cavalli (10-5), who was attempting to throw Washington’s first no-hitter since Max Scherzer accomplished the feat twice in 2015. Backed by a crowd of 21,463 fans who gave him a standing ovation following the seventh inning, Cavalli relied on an efficient mix of fastballs, sweepers, and curveballs to stifle a powerful Cubs lineup. According to MLB.com, the Cubs entered the series finale averaging 7.1 runs per game over their previous nine contests, making Cavalli’s mastery all the more striking.
“This team doesn’t really chase and I knew that going in,” Cavalli said, as reported by MLB.com. “So, I had to compete and throw it in the box and see what would happen.”
Cavalli needed just 54 pitches to get through five perfect frames, striking out one batter in each inning. His bid for baseball immortality met its first blemish in the top of the sixth when he walked Dansby Swanson on four pitches to open the frame. Swanson was quickly erased when Michael Conforto grounded into a double play. After Cavalli struck out Miguel Amaya on a 98.9 mph fastball to close out the sixth, he returned for the seventh and retired Pete Crow-Armstrong and Seiya Suzuki before Busch broke up the no-hit bid with two strikes.
Building the Lead Against Kevin Gausman
While Cavalli carved through the Chicago order, the Washington offense went to work against Cubs starting pitcher Kevin Gausman (6-11). The Nationals broke through in the bottom of the fourth inning when Abimelec Ortiz notched a one-out single. Two pitches later, Dylan Crews laced an RBI double to left-center field to open the scoring.
Washington blew the game open in a five-run fifth inning. The first two Nationals batters reached base safely before Andrew Pinckney drove in a run with a sacrifice fly. Following a single by CJ Abrams, Ortiz crushed a three-run home run to right-center field, pushing the lead to 5-0. Daylen Lile capped the explosive frame with an RBI single, chasing Gausman from the game. Gausman permitted six runs across 4 2/3 innings while striking out seven in his second appearance since arriving from Toronto prior to the trade deadline, as detailed by the Associated Press.
Ortiz’s surge continued a productive stretch for the young hitter. According to Associated Press reports, Ortiz has clubbed four home runs in his last 11 games and batted .389 with three homers and seven RBIs during Washington’s six-game homestand.
Stretching the Limits in the Eighth
Despite heavy pitch counts and the emotional weight of a potential no-hitter, Nationals manager Blake Butera elected to send Cavalli back out for the eighth inning. Cavalli worked around a two-out walk to Swanson and punctuated his afternoon by striking out Conforto looking on his 103rd and final pitch. Pumping his fist and shouting toward the dugout, the right-hander walked off the mound having set new personal bests in both innings pitched (eight) and pitches thrown (103).
“I felt great,” Cavalli said, according to MLB.com. “It was good that Blake let me go out for the eighth. I was really excited about that.”
Butera confirmed after the game that had the no-hitter stayed intact, Cavalli would have been given the opportunity to finish the nine innings. “I don’t know how many opportunities you get to have a no-hitter that deep into a game,” Butera told MLB.com. “If we had to back his start up or give him extra rest, I’m never going to stand in the way of a no-hitter.”
Historic Company and Looking Ahead
The gem was Cavalli’s seventh consecutive quality start, representing the longest active streak in Major League Baseball and the longest by a Washington pitcher since Max Scherzer put together a 14-start streak in 2019, per MLB.com records. Cavalli has surged to a 6-1 record with a 2.36 ERA and a .203 opponent batting average over his last nine outings.
Catcher Keibert Ruiz praised Cavalli’s pitch execution after the victory. “He threw his breaking ball really well,” Ruiz said, as reported by MLB.com. “He was really sharp today with the curveball, his sweeper and the four-seam. I think at 95 pitches, he was still touching 98, 99 [mph]. That’s really tough to face.”
Reliever Clayton Beeter took over in the ninth and worked a clean frame to seal the 7-0 shutout, wrapping up a much-needed bounce-back win for Washington before their next series. Share your thoughts on Cavalli’s near-historic performance in the comments below.
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