Dylan Cease was dominant in his return

The Toronto Blue Jays' offense has let the team's pitchers down more often than not this season. And that nearly happened again last night (Tuesday) against the Philadelphia Phillies.

All this despite a near-perfect performance by starter Dylan Cease in his return to the mound after a brief stint on the sidelines.

In fact, the 30-year-old pitched six innings and retired 11 batters from the Phillies' lineup—which has been on fire lately—including two against Kyle Schwarber and Brandon Marsh, two of the best hitters in Major League Baseball right now.

But even though it's hard to believe, that wasn't the most impressive part of Cease's night on the mound. No, by the end of the fifth inning, he had recorded 25 swings and misses, tying Jacob Misirowski of the Milwaukee Brewers for the highest total in five innings this season.

He finished the game with 29 swings and misses, tying his career high and setting the highest total in that category among all MLB pitchers in 2026.

However, as mentioned, it wasn't until the bottom of the ninth inning that the Jays finally won the game, as Toronto's offense failed to produce anything of note for eight innings. Yet again.

Jesus Sanchez was the leadoff batter in the inning and had already scored the game's only run, a solo home run in the sixth inning. He hit a single, and Yohendrick Pinango followed suit at the plate.

With no outs and runners on first and third, a wild pitch by Jhoan Duran tied the game at two with Brandon Valenzuela at the plate, the Blue Jays' top hitter over the past month.

And he didn't disappoint, as with a count of one ball and two strikes, Valenzuela hit the game-winning single off a fastball clocked at nearly 100 miles per hour.

A close call.

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