Dylan Cease hung his head on the mound as Luis Arraez broke his heart.

With two outs in the top of the ninth inning at Guaranteed Rate Field, Cease toed the rubber against Arraez, who represented the final hope for the visiting Twins. On his way to the first of back-to-back batting titles, Arraez connected for a line-drive single to right field — Minnesota’s first hit of the night.

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Cease said he knew right away that Arraez’s liner would find the outfield grass. Just one out from what would have been his first career no-hitter, the White Sox pitcher was well aware of how close he’d come to history.

“It’s an incredibly difficult feat to achieve,” Cease said. “It definitely would have meant a lot.”

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That was Sept. 3, 2022. Less than two years later, Cease and Arraez found themselves together again on a memorable day in Cease’s career. And this time, the ending was different.

Cease was traded from the White Sox to the Padres on March 13. Arraez arrived in San Diego on May 4 in a deal with the Marlins. On Thursday at Nationals Park, when Cease finally broke through for that first career no-hitter, Arraez wasn’t there to stop him — he was there to cheer him on.

After Cease completed the finest game of his MLB career, just the second no-no in Padres history, he broke from an embrace with catcher Kyle Higashioka to find Arraez waiting.

In the infielder’s outstretched right hand? The baseball Cease used to record the final out, a CJ Abrams lineout to right field. Cease took the historic ball with a grin and a hug for one of his newest teammates.

This time around, there were no hard feelings.