Cease helps banged-up White Sox put focus back on winning

Injuries are a part of baseball, but they've been hitting the White Sox in waves the past few years.

Riding another one as the regular season gets going, Dylan Cease helped the Sox put the focus back on winning games with a solid outing in his first start of the season.

Taking the mound against the Tigers Saturday afternoon shortly after White Sox manager Tony La Russa said Lucas Giolito (sore abdomen) is likely going to join Lance Lynn (knee) on the injured list, Cease worked 5 innings and allowed 1 run on 2 hits while throwing 79 pitches.

The 26-year-old righty also had 8 strikeouts and 3 walks.

"He was outstanding," La Russa told reporters after the Sox beat Detroit 5-2 at Comerica Park. "They've got a nice club over there and he was just rock solid, in command of all of his pitches. When he got a little out of sync, he got right back on it."

While he mainly relied on his big fastball to pile up 226 strikeouts over 165.2 innings last season, Cease featured the slider in Saturday's debut.

"I feel like I was kind of a one-trick pony a little bit with the slider," he said. "That was the pitch I had the best feel for. Sometimes, you have those games where you just have to compete with what you've got."

The White Sox did lose another player to injury in the win - right fielder AJ Pollock exited with a right hamstring issue after leading off the third inning with a single - but the offense gave Cease plenty of support.

Before the game, La Russa said Pollock is going on the paternity list Monday, likely keeping him out of Tuesday's home opener. As for the hamstring injury, Pollock said "it's really short term."

In the first inning, Eloy Jimenez put the Sox in front with a 2-run single off Tigers starter Casey Mize. Yasmani Grandal hit a 2-run homer in the sixth and Andrew Vaughn added an RBI single in the seventh.

The White Sox get shortstop Tim Anderson back Sunday. He missed the first two games of the series while serving the rest of a three-game suspension from late last season.