DETROIT -- Dylan Cease is making progress.

That fact becomes evident every time the No. 25 overall prospect, per MLB Pipeline, takes the mound for the White Sox. In a 5-3 victory over the Tigers during Game 1 of Tuesday’s split doubleheader at Comerica Park, Cease ended a personal four-start losing streak.

But in the minds of Cease and White Sox manager Rick Renteria, a little more conviction at the game’s outset from the right-hander could lead to longer starts and greater consistency.

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“He's got to be attacking more early, strong with conviction,” Renteria said. “You can see when he turns it up, when he starts to get in a little bit of trouble, he'll change his demeanor a little bit. That's what I see, spoke to him a little bit about that today.”

“It seems as the way it's going, early in the game I kind of feel my way through it a little bit,” Cease said. “Then I get locked in and I start being a little more aggressive. He was just talking about having that intent from the beginning, just trusting it from the beginning.”

Cease’s first career win came in his Major League debut on July 3, also against the Tigers, in Game 1 of a doubleheader at Guaranteed Rate Field. On Tuesday, Cease yielded two runs on seven hits over five innings with six strikeouts and one walk.

This start followed an outing on Thursday against the Mets, during which Cease felt the best he had all season. But the best news for Cease was that the one bad inning that has plagued him in each start amounted to nothing against Detroit.

Yes, Cease threw 27 pitches in the first inning, with two errors behind him not helping the cause. He also pitched out of a bases-loaded, one-out situation, leaving three Tigers stranded. Cease could have reduced that pitch count if not for rushing a throw home to catcher Welington Castillo on Dawel Lugo’s grounder back to the mound, turning a potential 1-2-3 double play into a force at the plate when Castillo recovered the bounce pass.

“I just should have taken my time,” Cease said. "I remember the ball being hit back to me, and I didn't even realize I had it by the time I threw it. I just sped that up a little bit too quick.

“Thankfully, Welington saved me on that one. That potentially wasted how many pitches [I would have thrown] if I get that double play there. So it's little things like that that can help me get deeper into games.”

José Abreu homered, drove in three and reached base four times during the White Sox fourth victory in five games on this seven-game road trip. He has 24 homers and 81 RBIs this season, bringing his career home run total to 170. He’s just two big flies away from passing Robin Ventura for No. 6 on the all-time franchise list.

Leury García extended his on-base streak to 16 straight, Tim Anderson added two more hits and Castillo homered, with every starter but Eloy Jiménez getting at least one hit. Relievers Evan Marshall, Aaron Bummer and Alex Colomé supported Cease over the final four innings.

Working six or seven innings regularly stands as a goal for Cease. That change in approach and conviction, as Renteria mentioned, could help that process move forward.

“I’m just going to do a better job of mentally locking in before the game and not letting the first inning or two wake me up,” said Cease, who recorded 15 swinging strikes and topped out at 97.9 mph, per Statcast. “It's one of those things where you can try to be too perfect.

“You can try to be this or that instead of just being aggressive and letting things happen. For me, going into it now, I'm [going to], just from the get go, start out aggressive. But stuff-wise, I'm feeling good. I just need to not fall behind.”