It's another one and done for Cease in Chicago White Sox's loss to Twins
When trying to describe Dylan Cease's first 4 major-league starts for the Chicago White Sox, let's compare him to a brand new Porsche.
The 23-year-old righty has plenty of speed, power and flash, but he keeps ramming into curbs.
In his Sox debut on July 3, Cease needed 33 pitches to get out of the first inning against Detroit, which scored 2 runs with two outs.
At Tampa Bay on Sunday, Cease sputtered through the second inning, allowing 4 runs while throwing 44 pitches.
He veered off the road again Friday night in his start against the Twins at Guaranteed Rate Field.
After pitching over first baseman Jose Abreu's error and a four-pitch walk in the first inning, the second started off on a promising note when Cease struck out Miguel Sano looking on a 98-mph fastball.
That's when the wheels fell off.
Two straight singles and a walk loaded the bases, and after Byron Buxton's sacrifice fly put Minnesota in front, Max Kepler followed with a 3-run homer on a hanging curveball.
Three more hits in a row, including Nelson Cruz's RBI single, gave the Twins a 5-0 lead, and Cease had to retire Sano again or faces the consequences in a 42-pitch second inning.
"For us on the bench, he was one hitter away from getting taken out," manager Rick Renteria said. "He got that last out and all of the sudden put up zeros."
That's what Cease has done is his early days in the Sox's rotation.
It's both discouraging that he labors so badly in one inning and also encouraging that he's so good the rest of the time.
"It's frustrating, just because I do think he made strides in this start and unfortunately the results don't show it," catcher James McCann said after the White Sox lost to Minnesota 6-2. "But I think we're on the right track. Every guy's going to have a learning curve and I think he again showed awesome composure and found a way to get through five after a tough second inning."
Cease (1-3) allowed 5 runs on 7 hits and 3 walks in 5 innings. He's not thrilled, but he understands the developmental process.
"Other than one big inning every game, it's been pretty good," Cease said. "But I've got to figure out how to get over that. It's definitely frustrating because it's causing losses, but there are positives to take out of it. For me, it's not the end of the world, but I need to be better."
Renteria sees Cease going nowhere but up.
"He's got good stuff, no question about it," the manager said. "Listen, if anybody's worried about Dylan Cease, I wouldn't be. He's going to be OK. He'll get through these little hiccups which we would hope that they wouldn't occur.
"But some of the things we talk about, when you're bringing up young players to the big leagues that have talent, you hope the transition is flawless and they cruise through and everything is nice and hunky-dory, but some of them are going to get some hiccups.
"They're going to learn from them, they're going to continue to grow and get better, and he's going to be one of those guys."