Cease has historic night as White Sox roll to 9-0 win over Reds
The White Sox were a little down Tuesday before playing the first of two interleague games against the Reds in Cincinnati.
The unwelcome news of Luis Robert joining outfield mate Eloy Jimenez on the long-term injury list was jarring, but the Sox know the show must go on.
“I have no doubts, these guys, they knew early on it wasn't going to be easy,” manager Tony La Russa said. “It's never easy if it's any good. They know and our fans should be certain that we will respond with hellacious effort.”
For the first game without Robert — who is expected to miss 12-16 weeks with a Grade 3 (torn) right hip flexor — the White Sox did just that.
Sparked by a historic all-around effort from Dylan Cease, the Sox rolled to a 9-0 win over the Reds.
“That was some demonstration of how we're going to go forward,” La Russa said. “We're not going to make any excuses about who's missing. We've got enough with who's left.”
Coming off his best start of the season, a 7-inning shutout against the Tigers last Thursday, Cease kept the scoreless streak going against Cincinnati.
The 25-year-old righty allowed just 1 hit over 6 innings and piled up 11 strikeouts while lowering his ERA to 2.37.
Getting to hit for the first time in his career, Cease went 3-for-3. He singled in the second and fifth innings and doubled in the fourth.
“The guys had a great time with it,” La Russa said. “My comment was he actually pitched better than he hit. That's kind of hard to believe.”
According to STATS, Cease is one of only nine major-leaguer pitchers since 1901 to have 3 or more hits and 10 or more strikeouts while allowing no runs. The Cardinals' Adam Wainwright was the last to accomplish the feat, in 2013.
Cease is also the third pitcher since 1974 to start his career with 3 straight hits, per STATS.
“I haven't seen live pitching since my senior year in high school,” Cease said after the game. “I believe in myself as a hitter to be honest with you.”
“Kudos to him,” shortstop Tim Anderson said. “That's tough to do, get 3 hits in the big leagues. He made it look easy. Unbelievable.”
Pummeling the Reds was a great way for the White Sox to move on without Robert, but it's going to be a much tougher journey with the five-tool center fielder sidelined for such an extended stretch.
“There aren't many words to describe the feeling that we have now, the feeling that we had when we heard the news,” said first baseman Jose Abreu, who was 2-for-4 with 3 RBI against Cincinnati. “It's a tough loss. It's a difficult situation for the team but I think we have the pieces here to shore up that void. As a father figure, for me it's really hard, it's a really tough loss. You don't want any of your kids to go down as he went.
“It' a very, very difficult loss for the team and a difficult loss for me, too. Even though they (Robert and Jimenez) are down right now, ultimately they can rejoin the team in the future and help us down the way.”