Cease settles in to find groove, win in debut

CHICAGO – One pitch, one out.

That’s the way Dylan Cease, the No. 18 overall prospect, per MLB Pipeline, began his first Major League start and what would become his first big league win in the White Sox 7-5 victory over the Tigers during the first game of a split doubleheader Wednesday afternoon at Guaranteed Rate Field. Cease became the first Chicago starter to win his Majors debut since Scott Carroll on April 27, 2014.

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Cease's efficiency rate dropped precipitously for the rest of that opening inning. With two outs and nobody on base in the first, Cease walked Nicholas Castellanos and Brandon Dixon and hit Jeimer Candelario to load the bases. Harold Castro delivered a two-run single, and Niko Goodrum walked to put a Tiger at every base once again. But Cease retired John Hicks on a long fly ball to center fielder Ryan Cordell in an opening frame with the potential to be a great deal worse.

Cease followed that 33-pitch first by allowing one run over the next four innings, exiting after throwing 61 of his 101 pitches for strikes, striking out six and walking four. Not a bad debut overall for the next significant step in Year 3 of the White Sox rebuild.

“It was a good first start. Obviously the command wasn't the best, but I'll take a win any time,” Cease said. “Thankfully today I was able to throw some offspeed [pitches] for strikes, because my fastball command wasn't great.”

“I told him after the first, ‘Hey man, your stuff is plenty good. If you fill up the zone, you are going to be fine. The only way they beat you is if you beat yourself,’” said catcher James McCann, who had two hits and two RBIs as the White Sox won for the fourth time in five games. “He settled down and overall threw the ball well and gave us a chance to win. I’m pumped for him to get his first big league win.”

According to Statcast, Cease topped out at 99.6 mph, and he produced 13 swinging strikes. Five came off his slider and four off his changeup, and as the 23-year-old mentioned, he had trouble locating his fastball. He wore jersey No. 84 for his debut, making him the first player in franchise history to wear the number -- or any number in the 80s.

As for the reason behind 84? Nothing much to it, according to Cease.

“I’m not really partial to any numbers,” Cease said. “I just chose that one.”

“He did a very nice job of settling down and getting through five innings of work,” manager Rick Renteria said. “The curveball's a hammer, as we used to say. The changeup was outstanding. Again, fastball command is the big key for any Major League pitcher, and I'm sure that he'll be able to kind of clean that up.”

The White Sox (40-42) didn’t wait long to rally back against the Tigers, scoring one in the first and one in the second. They took control with two in the sixth courtesy of Yolmer Sánchez’s single and Cordell’s safety squeeze.

Alex Colomé’s 19th save finished off the victory, following a hitless three innings combined from Evan Marshall and Aaron Bummer. The 26,023 in attendance were ready for Cease, cheering his warmups, rooting when he walked in from the bullpen and getting on their feet when Cease reached two strikes in the count at any point in the first.

There was a feeling of excitement rather than nerves for Cease. With Game 1 behind him, he can simply work on settling into the rotation and the White Sox team with the rest of the young talent.

“It really is hard to put into words, the atmosphere,” said Cease, who had 15 to 20 family members in attendance and got an on-field Gatorade shower from Eloy Jiménez after the win. “You guys probably heard the banging in the dugout and all that. It's definitely the most fun I've had at a baseball field.”

“All these young men are coming through the system. They're developing, getting better,” Renteria said. “Hopefully, as we've said before, it will be something of the beginning of a nice run for us on the South Side.”