Dylan Cease might have ended his 2023 season on a bit of a heater.
“Any given year, he can put it all together again and be up there again and possibly win the Cy Young,” manager Pedro Grifol said.
The perilous immediate future for White Sox starting pitching makes Cease returning to form hugely important. The dreary nature of the current team makes it hard to enjoy.
Five innings of one-run ball from Cease could only do so much to brighten a 3-2 loss to the Padres on Friday. Solo shots from Yoan Moncada and Carlos Perez were outweighed by the offense’s 1-for-10 showing with runners in scoring position.
In Cease’s last four starts, he has a 1.93 ERA and has struck out 31 batters and walked only six in 23⅓ innings. While there were fewer 97 mph fastballs than in his masterpiece last Saturday in Boston, Cease struck out seven while keeping a star-laden San Diego offense in check.
“It was definitely challenging,” Cease said of his season. “Not getting the job done as much as you’d like is frustrating. So that was probably the hardest part. Sometimes you’ve just got to battle through it.’’
Cease still likely will finish the season with the highest walk rate (10%) among qualified starters in the American League. His 4.58 ERA in 177 innings is his highest mark since his rookie year. But after making 33 starts, Cease is once again ending the year healthy, and the mechanical issues that dogged his season are being spoken about in the past tense.
“Especially my last couple, I really found a good feel with that,” Cease said. “I wish I could’ve found it way earlier in the year. But I found something that works, and it’s good to finish strong.”
Cease has met new senior adviser to pitching Brian Bannister and joked about them adding pitches to his repertoire in the offseason.
With Cease’s durability and the lack of dependable options around him, cloning the right-hander might be a worthier project.
Bad bounces
Grifol has made Korey Lee’s defense a priority and isn’t as concerned about a 5-for-65 showing with the bat. On a night in which Lee got his first hit in more than a week, a wild fifth inning put the focus on his catching.
A two-strike slider to Padres third baseman Matthew Batten got the whiff that Cease was seeking but was the first of three sliders that bounced away from Lee for wild pitches in the inning. Worse, the wild pitch caromed far enough away for Batten to race to second as Lee was slow to find it by the Sox’ dugout.
“He lost it initially,” Grifol said. “But I’m not going to sit here and say, OK, we lost because of those wild pitches because that kid has done a phenomenal job back there behind the plate.’’
Batten advanced to third on another wild pitch before scoring on a sacrifice fly.
A helpful assist
Within minutes of launching it over the Sox’ bullpen in the ninth, Perez had the ball from his first career homer. A helpful retriever was close by.
“Liam [Hendriks] did it,” Perez said.
