GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Neither unexpected Arizona rain nor unexpected cold could keep Dylan Cease from his appointed mound work on Thursday afternoon in an 8-2 White Sox loss to the Brewers at Camelback Ranch.

The right-hander needed just 43 pitches (30 strikes) to get through three innings after sitting through a rare Cactus League delay covering 33 minutes. Cease fanned five and didn’t issue a walk, allowing one run on a first-pitch hanging curve hit over the center-field wall by Brewer Hicklen in the second.

Cease consistently hit 96, 97 mph with his fastball, according to the center-field radar readings.

“That’s great. If I could live there during the season, I’ll get plenty of outs,” said Cease, who threw only nine pitches in the second. “I’d like to uptick a little bit more, but we’ll see. I’ll definitely take that, though.

“Fastball command was really good. Slider was pretty consistent. I could be a little more consistent with it, but it was pretty good. Definitely a good outing.”

Andruw Monasterio fanned twice against Cease, while Cease also struck out Rhys Hoskins to end the third and his afternoon.

“I don’t think it was my sharpest, but I’m very happy throwing strikes,” Cease said. “A start like that, if I had the same exact stuff, I would be feeling good in all my starts.

“Just continuing to consistently execute and make sure I have the same process and cues, and all that. Find consistency, create consistency.”

Jordan Leasure, who was named to the White Sox Spring Breakout roster Thursday for a prospects contest against the Cubs on March 15, followed Cease with his fourth straight scoreless outing.

Leasure, ranked as the club’s No. 15 prospect by MLB Pipeline, wasn’t able to get a great look at Cease’s game work from the bullpen, but was highly impressed just by Cease’s pregame warmup.

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“Watching him going through his pregame routine, it was probably one of the Top 10 coolest things,” a smiling Leasure said. “He’s one of the best.”

Thursday’s outing was good in-season preparation for Cease’s second straight Opening Day start, even getting him ready for potential rough weather in Chicago on March 28 vs. Detroit.

“Yeah, it’s always fun in Arizona,” a smiling Cease said. “You’re not expecting that to happen very often. It’s pretty rare.”

Different look

Left-hander Tim Hill threw a scoreless eighth inning vs. the Brewers, bringing his funky three-quarter delivery to the mound. Manager Pedro Grifol likes Hill’s durability, but he also likes presenting different looks out of the bullpen among his eight arms.

“That’s how you construct a bullpen,” Grifol said. “Not so much different angles, but different stuff. When you’ve got guys that throw from down there and throw sinkers and cutters, they’re different. That’s really important.

“You want power back there, of course, but if you have eight guys that are power slider, power fastball, you’re seeing the same thing over and over again. It’s important to get different looks, different feels, different extensions, different release heights, different pitches.”

Third to first

• John Brebbia, who has been sidelined by a right calf strain, threw a bullpen session on Thursday morning.

• Grifol pointed to Touki Toussaint’s command as the issue behind the 11 earned runs he has allowed in 1 2/3 innings during Spring Training. Toussaint, who is in play as a long reliever/spot starter, has walked eight and yielded seven hits.

• Luis Robert Jr. and Andrew Benintendi were scratched from Thursday’s starting lineup with the wet playing field following the hour or so of rain.