ATLANTA -- White Sox right-hander Dylan Cease grew up a Braves fan.

It’s a logical and natural progression for a young man from Milton, Ga., whose family had season tickets for one season at Turner Field. So it was a childhood dream fulfilled on Sunday afternoon for Cease to start in a convincing 8-1 White Sox victory at Truist Park.

But it was an even more important moment in the present for Cease, who ended a single-season franchise high of eight straight starts with no-decisions with his first victory since May 23. 

The Braves (61-31) also lost consecutive games for the first time since May 29-30 in Oakland and had their stretch of 11 series wins come to a close.

This scenario didn’t seem the least bit possible after the White Sox (40-55) dropped a 9-0 decision in the second-half opener on Friday. Chicago manager Pedro Grifol felt the energy was there in the series opener, even if the results weren’t.

“All you have to do is just strap it on and prepare yourself to go play a game,” Grifol said. “You never know what’s going to happen in this game. You do know what’s going to happen if you don’t play hard and you don’t prepare. You’re going to get your [butt] kicked.”

“Yeah, that’s huge for us. We knew we had our hands full coming into Atlanta,” third baseman Jake Burger said. “Fortunately, we got the results we wanted after a tough Day 1. So, I’m really proud of how the guys battled and put together some really good at-bats, and some good pitching innings. 

“It was an all-around team effort.”

Burger’s two-run homer to left-center off Braves starter Kolby Allard sparked a four-run second inning and was his 21st of the season. This blast in front of his wife, son, parents and sister covered a White Sox season-best 461 feet and had an exit velocity of 113.5 mph, per Statcast.

Andrew Benintendi, Tim Anderson and Luis Robert Jr. drove the 14-hit attack by combining for nine hits, five RBIs and four runs scored at the top of the order. Robert produced a fourth career four-hit game and capped it off with his 27th home run in the sixth.

“We had some good ABs,” said Anderson, who logged two hits and a walk. “We stayed on them and kept pressing the issue.”

“That was awesome,” Burger said. “We were getting hits from everybody. It’s what we know we are capable of doing. It’s just doing that on a consistent basis.”

Cease allowed one run on three hits and three walks to go with six strikeouts over five innings. He pitched in front of close to 40 friends and family, and despite the lack of runs scored on him, was pushed to 99 pitches by the Braves.

According to Statcast, Cease recorded 17 swings and misses and topped out at 98.6 mph with his fastball. He also escaped a tight situation in the fifth by striking out Austin Riley and retiring Matt Olson on a flyout to left with runners on first and second.

“He mixed it up good,” Olson said. “He's got really good stuff. He's able to spin the breaking balls really well and he's throwing 98 [mph] at the top of the zone.”

“I feel great,” Cease said. “I didn’t have the best command and they also did a good job of battling and having long at-bats. Not a great combo for going deep, but I’m happy to get through five with one run and the ‘pen picked me up.”

Atlanta’s home run streak was halted at a franchise-record 28 straight by Cease and three relievers. About the only negative for Cease was never getting to meet Hall of Famer Chipper Jones, his childhood favorite, who was in attendance on Friday.

Otherwise it was a great start to the second half for the White Sox, once again showing the high level of this team when everything clicks.

“Our bats were there, we played great defense for the most part, our pitching was solid,” Cease said. “It’s one of those series that shows the kind of talent we have.”

“Leave it all on the field. That’s all you can do,” Grifol said. “For me, that’s probably the best team in baseball. They don’t have any weaknesses in my opinion. It’s a good series for us, a good series.”