Dylan Cease went into the seventh inning with a no-hit bid intact.
He left before the inning was over with the chance at history gone — and with a cramp in his arm.
The Padres ace hadn’t allowed a hit to the Yankees through the first 6 1/3 innings on Wednesday night before allowing a solo homer to Cody Bellinger, and though he recovered to strike out Anthony Volpe, he then exited early with a trainer.
After the game, the team said he was dealing with a forearm cramp.
“I, honestly, would have liked to have kept going,” Cease told reporters after his team’s 4-3 loss. “But I think it was the right call.”
The right-hander added that’s he’s not too worried about the issue.
“It basically made my hand close tight for a couple of seconds. I don’t think it’s anything too serious,” he said.
Entering the seventh inning, the Yankees had reached base just three times — walks by Jasson Domínguez and Oswaldo Cabrera and a catcher’s interference by Jorbit Vivas.
Before the Bellinger homer, the closest thing to a hit was Austin Wells’ fly ball to the right-field wall that Fernando Tatis Jr. made a leaping catch on in the fourth inning.
Max Fried was plenty good himself, allowing just one run on five hits through seven strong innings.
“To his credit, he said something about it,” Padres manager Mike Shildt said of Cease. “Said he could have kept going, but it didn’t make sense at the moment, so we’ll evaluate and see what happens.”