CHICAGO — Dylan Cease has been nearly unhittable at times this season while putting himself in contention for the American League Cy Young Award.
The Chicago White Sox right-hander flirted with history Saturday night, losing a no-hit bid with two outs in the ninth inning in a 13-0 rout of the Minnesota Twins at Guaranteed Rate Field.
The crowd of 31,655 stood and cheered as the bottom of the ninth began. Cease began the inning by striking out Caleb Hamilton. Gilberto Celestino filed out to center fielder Adam Engel.
But Luis Arraez, who leads the American League in batting average, singled to right-center on a 1-1 pitch for the Twins’ first hit.
Cease settled his nerves and struck out Kyle Garlick for a one-hit shutout. He finished with seven strikeouts and two walks, falling just short of becoming the 21st White Sox pitcher to toss a no-hitter.
Before the single, the only Twins to reach base came via walks. Jake Cave did so leading off the third but was erased when Gary Sánchez grounded into a 6-4-3 double play.
Cease walked Celestino with two outs in the sixth but got Arraez to strike out looking to end the inning.
In the seventh, Cease struck out Garlick and Jermaine Palacios and got Jose Miranda to fly out to right field.
Cease began the eighth striking out Nick Gordon. He made a nice play to field a comebacker by Gio Urshela and got Cave to line out to first baseman José Abreu.
Cease, 26, improved to 13-6. He entered Saturday leading the major leagues in strikeouts per nine innings (11.63) and was third in ERA (2.27), fourth in opponents average (.193) and tied for fourth in strikeouts (190).
His remarkable season included a stretch of 14 consecutive start from May 29-Aug. 11 in which he allowed one or zero runs, becoming the first starter (non-opener) since 1913 to accomplish the feat.
He received offensive support with a four-run first, capped by Eloy Jiménez’s three-run homer. Romy Gonzalez added a three-run blast, the first home run of his major league career, in the fourth.
The Sox added six runs in the eighth, capped by an Elvis Andrus grand slam against Gordon, a position player.
