Cade Cavalli enjoys best outing of his career as Nationals blank Cubs

Cade Cavalli walloped his glove as Cubs first baseman Michael Busch’s opposite-field bloop single dropped to end his no-hit bid after 6 2/3 innings.

The cruelty of baseball. Cavalli was aggressive in the at-bat, throwing his fastball in the strike zone, and Busch’s quality of contact was poor. The ball still fell for a base hit. The process was right, but the outcome was suboptimal for the right-hander, who will turn 28 Friday.

But Cavalli shouldn’t lower his head or be disappointed in his performance. He authored the best outing of the season for the Nationals, throwing eight shutout innings, allowing one hit and one walk with 10 strikeouts in a 7-0 win over the Chicago Cubs on Thursday at Nationals Park.

“I told him that was unbelievable,” manager Blake Butera said. “It was fun to watch.”

Cavalli said this start didn’t feel dissimilar from previous ones, but there was one noticable difference. Pregame, Cavalli usually dresses in a team-issued sweatsuit complete with a team-colored beanie adorned on the top of his head. He told The Banner that he just likes to feel comfortable and cozy before games.

But not Thursday. Cavalli eschewed his usual pregame tradition, dressing in full uniform when the clubhouse opened to media members. The wardrobe change apt for a start in which he made Cubs hitters uncomfortable as he mowed through the lineup.

“I just went out there with the same plan as normal,” Cavalli said. “[Pitching coach Simon Mathews], and [catcher Keibert Ruiz] had a great plan, I just wanted to go execute it.”

Around two days ago, Fellow starter Jake Irvin gave Cavalli notes on the Cubs after Irvin faced them Tuesday.

Cavalli told him, “If I throw a no-hitter, I’m going to need these from you every time.” In the third, Irvin traversed down the dugout and found a smiling Cavalli.

“We knew what was going on,” Cavalli said. “But it was fun. I’m glad we got the win.”

Thursday was a fitting culmination of the work Cavalli has put in this season to maximize his physical gifts. Against this same Cubs team on opening day, he allowed three runs (two earned) over 3 2/3 innings, with three walks and five strikeouts.

But the Cavalli who took the mound at Wrigley Field is not the one who pitched at Nationals Park on Thursday.

“The stuff has been really good all year, but the way he’s able to execute and put the ball in the spot that he wants it to go, rather than having to waste some pitches and use too many pitches,” Butera said of how Cavalli has improved since opening day. “But the efficiency is what stands out: him being able to pitch that deeply into the game. I don’t think he’s doing that 10-15 starts ago, because he’s really learning how to pitch now.”

He joined Max Scherzer as the only pitchers in team history to record two or more games of at least seven innings pitched with one hit or fewer and 10 or more strikeouts. Cavalli achieved those benchmarks in his June 30 start against Boston.

In the fourth inning, Cubs star center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong didn’t argue. He didn’t dispute the call.

He instead shouted an expletive as he walked away from home plate, resigned to the fact that Cavalli’s knuckle curve was in the zone for a called strike three. But it wasn’t just Crow-Armstrong, the Cubs’ young MVP candidate, who had difficulty with Cavalli. Living and trusting in the zone aided Cavalli well against a disciplined Cubs team.

Cavalli’s breaking balls are sharper now than at the beginning of the season — he got a combined 17 called strikes with his sweeper and curveball. Landing those for strikes, along with his powerful four-seamer, makes Cavalli difficult for any opponent.

He said in May that he added the sweeper primarily for right-handed hitters. Cavalli peppered the right-handers with 15 sweepers. Cavalli used the sweeper on 23% of his pitches, nearly double his yearly average (12%) and an indicator of how well he commanded the pitch Thursday.

“Early on, I was trying to be a little bit perfect, which is normal,” Cavalli said. “That’s a natural thing for a pitcher to do. Whenever you can, just rest on, ‘I’m gonna throw it in the zone and let my defense go out there and make plays.’ We have an incredible defense behind us, so I just want to give them opportunities to go do that. That doesn’t happen if I’m not competitive.”

Perfection is a trait imbeded in pitchers. It’s a goal they strive for, knowing that it isn’t attainable. As he worked with Mathews this past offseason on his sweeper, Cavalli described the pitch as a “worse curveball” in its infancy.

But because of Cavalli’s competitiveness, which showed in his roaring after getting Michael Conforto called out on strikes to complete the eighth, he kept trying to hone the sweeper. It’s a testament to Cavalli’s fastidious nature and doggedness that he improved his comfortability with his sweeper to use it as one of the key pitches in his arsenal.

“A lot of hitters are worried about his curveball and prepped for that, up and down, sharp movement,” catcher Drew Millas said this past spring. “And then you throw in the sweeper, where it’s got similar bite to it, but it’s left to right [horizontal movement]. It brings in a whole element of like, swing decisions and how their [bat] path has to match up to it.”

Thursday’s outing is the type that enamors team officials of Cavalli’s potential. President of baseball operations Paul Toboni treked accross the locker room from the cafeteria to greet his ace. Cavalli and Toboni embraced, both with wide grins plastered on their faces.

He has been superb in what’s essentially his first major league season. Injuries besieged him early in his career, robbing him of precious development time. Cavalli had never crossed the 50-inning threshold in his career — he’s already at 136 2/3 innings after Thursday’s sterling outing. Now that he’s finally healthy, he’s thriving, which has to leave the Nationals (60-63) thrilled.

“It’s special,” Ruiz said of catching Cavalli. “The energy that he goes [into] every game, and the focus. He loves to compete.”

Ruiz, who saw Cavalli’s major league debut, said there’s a “big difference” in the pitcher from that first start to now. One distinguishing factor this season is health. With Cavalli available to take the ball consistently, he’s learning with each outing. Butera credited Cavalli’s teammates and the coaching staff for helping him to “keep fine-tuning his craft” between outings.

“What we saw today is a great example of that,” Butera said.

Had Cavalli carried the no-hitter into the ninth, Butera would’ve let him take the mound. The organization wants to test its young players and allow them to overcome obstacles, whether it’s facing same-sided matchups or pitching deep into games. Cavalli had thrown at least six innings over his last six starts, so, with the Nationals holding a sizable lead, Butera wanted to challenge him.

“There have been some times where he’s had a really good start, but it maybe hasn’t finished the way that he’d like to, and [it] leaves a bad taste in your mouth,” Butera said. “So, to get through that and finish the game the way he did with with a shutout and only one hit, it felt like he could get over that hump.”

As the Nationals attempt to increase velocity in the arms in the farm system, Cavalli’s outing was a reminder that there are certain types of arms that can’t be replicated. Cavalli is a modest guy who tries to put the team first. But his performance on the mound goes hand in hand with how well the team performs.

“I got to watch [Stephen] Strasburg, Scherzer during the World Series, and I know that all of us are looking forward to doing that one day,” Cavalli said. “We got a lot of ball left. We never know, we can get hot, so we’re just ready to keep competing.”

This article has been updated.