Mets 4, White Sox 0: Dylan Cease’s first seven inning start

Could Dylan Cease avoid the second inning meltdown? That was the development question Cease was trying to figure out an answer as that inning haunted him. In his previous two outings, Cease allowed nine runs total in the second inning on nine hits. In the other eight innings pitched, Cease kept the opposing team scoreless only allowing one hit. Quite the difference from having a spectacular start, and being happy that the Rookie made it through five innings. 

Cease made quick work of the Mets in the first inning striking out Michael Conforto and Peter Alonso. Starting the second inning, and facing the veteran Robinson Cano, Cease’s 3-1 fastball was set up on a tee and deposited into the left-field bleachers for a solo home run. That was followed up by walking Wilson Ramos, and the thought of another second inning meltdown loomed. 

Not this time. Cease was able to reset himself after the walk to get J.D. Davis to hit a roller to Yolmer Sanchez starting the 4-6-3 double play. Todd Frazier would end the inning with a fly to right field, and Cease escaped with just allowing one run. 

While getting the bad second inning monkey off his back, Cease continued to pitch well in the third and fourth innings. Adeiny Hechavarria singled in the third but was erased on the next pitch when Cease got Jeff McNeil to ground into a 3-6-1 double play. Cease navigated through the Mets middle-of-the-order by striking out Alonso for a second time and winning the second battle against Cano for a harmless groundout. 

Cease faced a little pressure in the fifth inning when Davis singled to right field and started Frazier on a 3-0 count. On a 96 mph fastball to the outside corner, Frazier hit a high infield pop fly that Ryan Goins made the catch. With that bit of good fortune, Cease received more help thanks to an excellent defensive play by Leury Garcia. Amed Rosario singled to right field, and as Davis was rounding second base, Garcia made a terrific throw to Goins who applied the tag for the third out. 

The pressure was turned up in the sixth inning. Hechavarria walked, and McNeil singled to left field to start the inning. Conforto could only muster a weak grounder to AJ Reed covering first base, but it allowed both runners to move into scoring position. On the very first pitch, Alonso hit a hard grounder towards third base. Goins made a great defensive play to pick it and throw Hechavarria out at home. With two outs, Cease was close to getting out of the inning unscathed. 

That was until Cano dealt another blow, this time a double to right field scoring one run and giving the Mets a 2-0 lead. Ramos would follow that up with a single to right field that quickly plated Alonso, but Garcia made another excellent throw to home plate in time for Welington Castillo to apply a tag on Cano. Instead, Castillo dropped the ball and was charged with an error, and the Mets tagged Cease for three runs in the sixth inning. 

Rick Renteria had Cease start the seventh inning with 94 pitches. On a 2-2 count, Cease spun a curveball that Frazier couldn’t check his swing on for a strikeout. Rosario groundout to second, and ending the afternoon with an exclamation point, froze Hechavarria on a 97 mph fastball called strike three. The longest outing of his young MLB career, Cease’s final line was 7 IP 7 H 4 R 3 ER 2 BB 6 K and his season ERA is now at 6.11. 

Opposite of Cease on the mound was Mets starting pitcher, Zack Wheeler, who wasn’t moved before the trade deadline and is a free agent after this season. Perhaps an audition to the White Sox front office, Wheeler was terrific. On just 88 pitches, Wheeler pitched seven scoreless innings striking out seven with no walks and only allowed four hits. 

Game Notes: 

  • The netting may have saved Jeff McNeil from injury
  • AJ Reed had a Golden Sombrero on the day, and is 6-for-44 with 21 strikeouts since joining the White Sox. 
  • The loss ends a 10-game home stand for the White Sox who finish with a 2-8 record. They are now 4-16 since the All-Star Break. 

Record: 46-60 | Box Score | Highlights

Author

  • Josh Nelson

    Josh Nelson is the host and producer of the Sox Machine Podcast. For show suggestions, guest appearances, and sponsorship opportunities, you can reach him via email at josh@soxmachine.com.

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roke1960

Not too many teams have the luxury of having a guy with a .409 OPS hitting cleanup. And Reed didn’t disappoint by striking out all 4 times. 4-16 since the break, but according to Hahn, the rebuild is running along smoothly!

marquettepark

AJ Reed was optioned. 

marquettepark

Thankfully!

ImmortalTimeTravelMan

Nice, which planet?

PauliePaulie

I’ve been one of his biggest detractors, but I hope they give Collins a fair shot with lots of DH/1B reps vs. RHPs.

roke1960

Unfortunately, it looks like they are facing 2 lefties in Philly this weekend.

marquettepark

Same here. This’s the time to slot Collins in. Give him the next two months to figure it out or not.

iowasox1971

I agree. The organization needs to know whether he Collins can be an MLB contributor or not. Get rid of Castillo ASAP.

Trooper Galactus

Honestly, he should have been chucked before the deadline. Nobody was gonna trade for his ass even if the White Sox sent away more International Bonus Pool space.

jose robcada

yay

Trooper Galactus

Where’s the over/under at for the White Sox 2020 draft position? I’ll set it at 5.5.

lil jimmy

seems to be 7/8

roke1960

I would take the over. KC, Detroit, Baltimore are 8 or more back, Toronto is 5 back, Miami is 4.5 back. That would put them at 6. It looks like a fight between the Sox, Pittsburgh and Seattle for 6-8. I’ll guess 7.

Trooper Galactus

True, but no denying the White Sox are absolutely trending toward the under, tanking teams be damned.

roke1960

I just think that every one of those teams will continue to lose at almost the same rate as the Sox. I guess 5 is possible if one of Miami/Toronto play decent.

Trooper Galactus

I dunno, our last three game series against the Royals could be pretty big in that regard.

PauliePaulie

9th pick based on remaining strength of schedule and sitting on their hands at the deadline.

marquettepark

The trend is your friend: 5 to 6 seems probable. Just have a feeling that Seattle is going surpass the Sox win total when its all said and done. The Pirates have been terrible recently but usually play the spoiler role better during August/September….It’s bad when there’s not much else to hang your ? on as a fan. 

Trooper Galactus

Seattle also has played six more games than us so far, so I think they’ll get a bit more rest in the final months than we will.

MrStealYoBase

Not exclusively relevant to the game today but I don’t understand how it’s possible that after three years of acquiring young talent and supposedly focusing on player development the depth on this team is this bad.

When you are carrying a bottom-5 salary you are supposed to spend that savings on player development, scouting, or analytics to make sure that the young players you have reach their potential. 

Trooper Galactus

Because Hahn and Williams are horrible at running this team. This isn’t a difficult conclusion to come to.

MrStealYoBase

Jerry owns this team and the buck starts and stops with him. I think a lot of people want to attribute greed or malice to him but I generously just assume that it’s gross incompetence.

Trooper Galactus

Teams operate on much tighter budgets than the ones Jerry sets, he just continues to employ a GM who has no idea how to succeed on said budget.

Amar

It’s greed all the way man. 

soxfan4life

im tired of ranting about this team to ad naseum Question: Should Goins start over yolmer at 2b? i say yes. hope sox can break out of this slump in philly not gonna be easy GO SOX!!!!

White Sox Wade

With that attitude, you might get an autographed ball from Ricky!

GoGoSoxFan

55 runs scored in 20 games since the break. 4-16 record. I rest my case.

Amar

No Eloy, Timmy, now Moncada during various parts of that period. And Abreu appears toast. 

mockeyedjim

I don’t think I can watch any more of this horseshit! This is pitiful!