Dylan Cease helps the Chicago White Sox bounce back, striking out 8 in a 5-2 win against the Detroit Tigers
But with innings to fill because of injuries to other members of the rotation, the Chicago White Sox needed a performance like the one Dylan Cease delivered Saturday. The right-hander allowed one run on two hits with eight strikeouts and three walks in five-plus innings as the Sox beat the Detroit Tigers 5-2 in front of 17,469 at Comerica Park.
It was only the second game of the season.
But with innings to fill because of injuries to other members of the rotation, the Chicago White Sox needed a performance like the one Dylan Cease delivered Saturday.
The right-hander allowed one run on two hits with eight strikeouts and three walks in five-plus innings as the Sox beat the Detroit Tigers 5-2 in front of 17,469 at Comerica Park.
“All of us as starters take that pride and that chip on our shoulder to go out and eat as many innings as we can,” Cease said. “It’s good because (the Tigers) won in a good fashion (Friday), but I think we showed that we’re still here.”
Cease threw 79 pitches and exited after allowing a single to Austin Meadows to begin the sixth inning.
“You lose a game like (Friday, 5-4 on Javier Báez’s game-winning hit in the ninth), the momentum is always the starting pitcher, and he was just outstanding,” Sox manager Tony La Russa said of Cease.
“They have a nice club over there and he was rock-solid. Command of all his pitches, and when he got a little out of sync he got right back on it, he started doing that midseason on (in 2021). A quick learner.”
Cease retired eight straight from the final out of the second inning to the first out of the fifth. He had a stretch of four straight strikeouts, with three coming in the fourth and one to begin the fifth.
“I think what tends to happen is you have a couple innings under your belt of feeling your body and all that, so it can be easier to get in a rhythm (later),” Cease said. “Hopefully I can start doing that from the beginning (of the game).”
After striking out Jonathan Schoop to start the fifth, Cease walked the next two batters. He rebounded by striking out Akil Baddoo and getting Robbie Grossman to line out to first.
“Just keep my focus and just keep doing what I can to execute,” Cease said of getting out of the fifth.
Cease stepped up for a rotation dealing with injuries to Lance Lynn and Lucas Giolito. Additionally, Michael Kopech’s innings are being monitored early as he moves from the bullpen to back to the rotation. Kopech will start Sunday’s series finale.
“The way you build a year, every time your starter can go out there like that, now it’s up to other guys,” La Russa said. “Michael will get his chance (Sunday), Dallas (Keuchel) will get his chance.
“It was just outstanding how Dylan pitched, just like he was in spring training. He gives them a lot of different pitches to deal with.”
Like Friday’s opener, the Sox jumped ahead in the first with a two-out hit by Eloy Jiménez. On Friday, it was an RBI single. On Saturday, it was a two-run single.
Yasmani Grandal’s two-run homer in the sixth made it 4-0.
But also like Friday, a Sox player exited early because of an injury. On Friday, it was Giolito after four innings because of abdominal tightness on his left side. La Russa said an optimistic timeline would mean Giolito will miss two starts.
On Saturday, right fielder AJ Pollock left in the third inning with tightness in his right hamstring. Pollock singled to center, rounded first and grimaced as he went back to the bag, briefly grabbing the back of his right leg.
“Honestly I thought it was going to be a for sure double,” Pollock said. “I felt like I hit the crap out of the ball and I took a turn and it looked like he was going to cut it off, and it was kind of on that slowdown and I felt it and hit the breaks, came back and I definitely felt that little bit of a grab. And Tony came out and it seemed like it was the wise move just to get out of there.”
Pollock, who was already scheduled to go on paternity leave in the coming days, said this hamstring issue should be a “short-term” situation.
Andrew Vaughn replaced Pollock and had an RBI single in the seventh to give the Sox a 5-2 lead. Josh Harrison — who went 2-for-4 with a triple and double — scored on Vaughn’s hit.
Reliever Bennett Sousa continued to impress early, striking out one in 1⅓ scoreless innings. José Ruiz induced a double play to end the eighth.
With closer Liam Hendriks unavailable after throwing 33 pitches Friday, Aaron Bummer was called on for the save opportunity. The left-hander, who was charged with two runs in two-thirds of an inning Friday, surrendered consecutive singles to begin the ninth. He struck out the next three to wrap up the team’s first win of 2022.
“Not really liking the path that I’m on that every ball in play is a hit and every out is a strikeout, but we’ll take it,” Bummer said. “Baseball, especially as a reliever, you get punched a lot. It’s how you stand up and how you respond to getting punched in the mouth.
“I thought today was a pretty good day to come back after (Friday) and make some pitches and get the job done.”
()