'The horse we rode': Cease strikes again

MINNEAPOLIS -- Dylan Cease said he fought off the disappointment of not being named an All-Star not long after the initial rosters were announced.

Still, the 26-year-old, in the midst of his best Major League season, carried a little motivation into his next two starts. The two games only showed how much of a snub it was for the White Sox right-hander to not be heading to Los Angeles for the All-Star Game.

Cease finished off the first half of the season with one of his most dominating performances of the year, carrying a no-hitter into the fifth inning and surrendering just one hit across seven scoreless innings during an 11-0 win against the Twins at Target Field on Sunday.

"I want to win,” Cease said. “I don't need any extra motivation. It's definitely not hard to find these days."

Chicago capped its first half with three wins in four games against Minnesota, closing the gap against the division-leading Twins to three games.

“Dylan, he was the horse we rode,” White Sox manager Tony La Russa said. “He was doing it efficiently and could have pitched longer, but we stopped in the seventh. [It's] what he’s done all year. He’s picked us up at important times. This was an important one.”

Chicago outscored Minnesota 32-10 in the series. The White Sox had 50 hits across the four games, their most in a single set since tallying 56 at Detroit from Aug. 5-7, 2019.

Yoán Moncada and Andrew Vaughn hit back-to-back homers, and Josh Harrison added a third in a six-run seventh inning. Vaughn had three hits and three RBIs and finished the first half hitting .301.

With Sunday’s win, Chicago got back to .500 at 46-46. The White Sox have won seven of their past 10 games to climb back into contention in the American League Central. They trailed Minnesota by as many as 6 1/2 games earlier in the month.

"We're chasing them in the standings right now,” Cease said. “It was important to make a statement and show that we're still here. I think it's going to be a good second half.”

The teams don’t meet again until Sept. 2 in Chicago. They have nine matchups remaining in September, including six of the White Sox last nine games of the season.

Cease, naturally, was in the middle of Chicago’s July run.

He hasn’t allowed a run in his past two starts, spanning 12 2/3 innings. He hasn’t allowed more than one earned run in a start since May 24, when he gave up a season-high seven against Boston.

“He has been unbelievable for us,” José Abreu said. “Outstanding. All the emphasis and effort to get better with each outing. That has been beneficial to us. I don’t know how he’s not in the All-Star Game. It’s crazy.”

Shortstop Tim Anderson was the only initial White Sox representative when All-Star Game rosters were officially announced. Chicago closer Liam Hendriks was named as a replacement on Sunday.

"I'm disappointed, but at the end of the day, I kind of got over it a little while ago,” Cease said. “I’m just going to keep going out and doing my best.”

Cease ended the first half with a 9-4 record, a 2.15 ERA and leads the Majors with 150 strikeouts. He also owns an AL-best 12.90 strikeouts per nine innings.

He is the first player since David Price in 2016 to outright lead the AL in strikeouts and not be named an All-Star.

“I’m careful answering that because I’ve been involved with that thing a few times,” La Russa said when asked if it was a shame Cease wasn't an All-Star. “But from our perspective, he was a deserving All-Star. But they have a process, and if the process doesn’t work for you, I don’t want to disrespect the process.”

Cease finished with eight strikeouts Sunday, becoming the fastest White Sox player to reach 500 career strikeouts. He reached the mark in 399 1/3 innings, 73 innings faster than the previous record-holder, Chris Sale.

Cease didn’t allow a hit until Alex Kirilloff had a one-out single in the fifth. Cease struck out the next two batters, and retired the final eight Twins he faced.

“He’s been pretty consistent in throwing the ball like this this year, and I think established some pitches in the zone and then was able to throw his off-speed stuff out of the zone,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “It’s a challenge to take some of those pitches, and we expanded a bit. He threw that slider, that breaking ball, probably the way he wanted to once he got us swinging. And he has good stuff; it’s not like he’s flipping some average stuff up there. It’s good.”