WASHINGTON -- Soon after Cade Cavalli made his 25th start last Friday -- his most in any professional season -- the Nationals’ ace insisted that he still had plenty of gas left in the tank.
“I’m just ready to keep going and I’m grateful that there’s no cap on me and that I can just keep pitching,” Cavalli said.
In the series finale against the Cubs on Thursday, Cavalli delivered again, completing eight innings for the first time in his career while taking a no-hitter into the seventh inning in Washington’s 7-0 win at Nationals Park.
Cavalli’s latest gem was his seventh consecutive quality start -- the longest active streak in the Majors and the longest by a Nationals starter since 2019 (Max Scherzer, 14).
Cavalli was in control early against a Cubs offense that entered play averaging 7.1 runs a game over the past nine contests. The right-hander needed just 54 pitches to get through five innings, retiring the first 15 Cubs he faced in order with one strikeout in each frame.
The Cubs first reached base in the sixth, when Cavalli walked Dansby Swanson on four pitches to lead off the inning. Cavalli fell behind 3-0 on Michael Conforto, but got him to ground into a double play before striking out Miguel Amaya on a 98.9 mph fastball to end the sixth.
Having still faced the minimum through six, Cavalli’s no-hit bid continued into the seventh as he struck out Pete Crow-Armstrong for a second time, before Seiya Suzuki flied out to right. But with two outs in the seventh, Michael Busch blooped a single to shallow left to break up the no-hitter.
Cavalli received a standing ovation from the 21,463 in attendance, before retiring Alex Bregman with a fly out to center to end any potential threat.
A day shy of his 28th birthday, Cavalli came back out for the eighth inning, worked around a two-out walk to Swanson and struck out Conforto on his 103rd and final pitch of the afternoon. Cavalli emptied the tank in the final at bat, pumping his first and yelling as we walked back to the dugout.
The Nationals’ Opening Day starter, who labored through 3 2/3 innings at Wrigley Field back on March 26, allowed just one hit and two walks to go along with 10 strikeouts in his eight frames.
He is the first pitcher to go eight-plus innings with one or fewer hits, no runs, and 10+ strikeouts against the Cubs since Cole Hamels’ no-hitter against the North Siders on July 25, 2015.
Cubs starter Kevin Gausman matched Cavalli early, retiring the first 10 Nationals he faced in order. Abimelec Ortiz then worked an eight-pitch at-bat and delivered a single for Washington’s first hit in the fourth inning. Two pitches later, Ortiz scored on a Dylan Crews RBI double.
The Nationals blew the game open with a five-run fifth inning, highlighted by Ortiz’s three-run homer to right-center. Ortiz is up to four home runs and eight RBIs in 10 games since being recalled on Aug. 3 to fill the void after Luis García Jr. was dealt to the Yankees. Daylen Lile’s RBI single gave the Nationals a 6-0 lead and ended Gausman’s outing with two outs in the fifth.