The Sox won yesterday on the back of Johnny Cueto, who debuted with the club and turned in a great performance. This afternoon, it was Dylan Cease’s turn to keep the momentum going on this 7-day road trip.
Dylan Cease recorded 9 strikeouts today in his 5.2 innings. He allowed 7 H and 2 BB. Cease worked in and out of trouble throughout the afternoon, shutting down multiple rallies before the Royals could capitalize. This eventually worked up his pitch count a bit, causing Bennett Sousa to be needed to finish off the sixth inning after Cease threw 94 pitches. Sousa recorded the last out in the 6th on a strikeout, and Joe Kelly followed him in the 7th. Kelly battled some command issues, as he gave up 1 hit and walked 2 to load the bases. He then got back-to-back strikeouts and a infield pop-up to tight rope his way out of the 7th. Jose Ruiz entered and worked a clean 8th inning, and Liam Hendriks came in and shut the door for the second day in a row, recording his 11th save.
The offense pushed across 3 runs, and that was enough for the win in this one. The game was cruising along then Royals starter Jonathan Heasley got into some trouble in the 5th. Reese McGuire led off the inning with a double, then Josh Harrison walked. Tim Anderson was hit by a pitch in the shoulder, and then A.J. Pollock opened the scoring with a sac-fly. Then Jose Abreu hit a 3-2 pitch into left-center for a 2 run double, making the score 3-0 Sox, and that was all she wrote in this one.
W: Dylan Cease (4-1) | L: Jonathan Heasley (0-2) | S: Liam Hendriks (11)
StatCast Breakdown
Box Score
Offensive Recap
Pitching Recap
White Sox Scoring Recap
Top 5th: A.J. Pollock hits a sac-fly scoring Reese McGuire. 1-0 Sox
Top 5th: Jose Abreu doubles scoring Josh Harrison, and Tim Anderson. 3-0 Sox
Notable Performances
Dylan Cease: 5.2 IP, 7 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 9 K
Cease was solid in this one. It was a great bounce back start after the start against the Yankees where he got roughed up for 6 runs. In this one he was sharp and worked out of a few jams. His 9 strikeouts in this one adds to his league leading 67 Ks in 43.2 innings this year.
Jose Abreu: 2-for-3,, 1 BB, 2 RBI
Abreu in the past two games has been a really tough out at the plate. He has been battling and having good at-bats. In the 5th he was fighting and fighting until he got a 3-2 pitch to drive and he drove home a pair, which was the deciding factor in this one.
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