Dylan Cease left his start against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Rogers Centre on May 24, 2025 with an apparent injury, exiting with two outs in the fifth inning after appearing to favor his lower body.
The Blue Jays removed Cease with two outs in the fifth and he left the field with a trainer on the mound. Dan Johnson reported: "Dylan Cease has been removed from today's game with an apparent injury." DraftKings Network's live update said Cease was removed with an apparent injury, and that he had allowed two runs on four hits and one walk while striking out six.
Cease's line at the time showed 58 pitches, 37 for strikes. The hits included a leadoff home run to right by Spencer Horwitz and a solo shot by Oneil Cruz in the second inning. Cease struck out Bryan Reynolds and Nick Gonzales to end the first, and in the third he fanned Brandon Lowe, Nick Gonzales again and Oneil Cruz.
The injury interrupted a recent hot stretch for Cease and the Blue Jays. DraftKings Network noted Cease entered Sunday with a 3-2 record, a 2.98 ERA, a 1.22 WHIP and a 3.36 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Another report entering the day listed him with a 3.05 ERA, a 1.21 WHIP and an MLB-leading 92 strikeouts in 62 innings — numbers that made him one of the American League's higher-strikeout arms.
Toronto came into the series chasing a sweep after winning four straight games; the Pirates had lost six of eight. Cease's exit therefore carried immediate competitive weight: the club turned to its bullpen while protecting a starter who has been a central figure in their rotation this season.
Tension about what exactly happened surfaced in the live updates. DraftKings Network's update also said Cease was done after three innings and Toronto turned to the bullpen, while other accounts placed his removal with two outs in the fifth. The available live updates did not list an official diagnosis at the time of writing, and those discrepancies leave the nature and timing of the problem unclear. Observers noted Cease appeared to be favoring his lower body before the Blue Jays removed him.
The injury is the latest hiccup after a difficult outing on May 19, when Cease lost to the Yankees and allowed five runs over five innings while striking out nine. That game, and Sunday’s premature exit, now raise a clear question for the Blue Jays: will they be forced to reshuffle a rotation that has relied on Cease’s ability to miss bats? An official medical update was not available at the time this report was filed.
