Dylan Cease believed he had a greater really feel for getting pitches within the strike zone Monday than he had in current begins.
“In that terms it was better,” the Chicago White Sox starter mentioned, “but obviously the results were still not good.”
The right-hander allowed a season-high seven earned runs because the Kansas City Royals throttled the Sox 12-5 in entrance of 9,814 at Kauffman Stadium.
“This was a tough one,” Sox supervisor Pedro Grifol mentioned. “We achieved some issues that we wished to get achieved, which was to get forward within the rely. Our (objective of) two out of three (strikes to a batter) was actually excessive.
“But when we got them on two strikes, we just couldn’t put them away. I think they got about seven hits with two strikes — three extra-base hits, including a homer and a couple doubles. That was the game right there.”
One day after a blowout win in opposition to the Cincinnati Reds, the Sox suffered a blowout loss.
In each instances, one massive inning stood out.
Sunday, the Sox scored 11 runs within the second inning on the way in which to a 17-4 victory at Great American Ball Park.
Monday, the Sox surrendered eight runs within the sixth because the Royals spoiled Grifol’s return to the place he served as a coach the earlier 10 seasons.
Cease allowed the seven runs on 9 hits with six strikeouts and one stroll in five-plus innings.
He is winless with an 8.25 ERA in his final 5 begins. That stretch contains permitting seven runs (six earned) in 4 innings on April 27 in opposition to the Tampa Bay Rays and 4 runs in 5 innings in his final begin Wednesday in opposition to the Minnesota Twins.
“I actually thought Cease had really good stuff,” Grifol mentioned. “His velocity was excessive. He felt good. He was sturdy. He threw some actually good sliders.
“He left some balls out over the plate they hit. At the same time, in this game you fight to get ahead in the count. When you do that at a 72-74% clip as a team and you lose and you give up that many runs, there’s something. (Monday) was two-strike pitching. They got seven hits with two strikes, so that was tough.”
Cease mentioned ending off an at-bat is a matter of execution.
“I need to hunker down with my slider,” he mentioned. “I’ve been backing them up and never getting the consistency that I want. And it actually comes right down to executing.
“I feel like I’m on a good track right now. We’ve made some good improvements the last 10 days or so. Just got to keep feeling the process. The results are disappointing.”
Three of the runs Cease allowed got here within the sixth. He exited with the bases loaded and no outs, and every runner finally scored.
“He had really good stuff,” Grifol mentioned. “I simply suppose that we’ve acquired to get again to the drafting board — him and (pitching coach) Ethan (Katz) and (bullpen coach) Curt (Hasler) — and have a look at these pitches once more and undergo the sport, recall the sport.
“He did a really good job getting ahead in the count. He won the two-out-of-three battle a lot. Then they’ve got to look at, with two strikes, what do we (need) to do with two strikes? It’s a weird game. Once you get ahead in the count that high of a percentage, normally things like that don’t happen. They did a good job with two strikes.”
Reliever Aaron Bummer adopted Cease and was tagged for 4 runs in two-thirds of an inning. Jimmy Lambert additionally allowed one run within the inning.
When the underside of the sixth began, the sport was tied at 6. When it ended, the sport was basically out of attain.
With the loss, the Sox dropped to 12-24 to match the third-worst 36-game begin in franchise historical past.
Cease, who has a 5.58 ERA in eight begins, is aware of there are steps he can take to assist get the staff moving into the appropriate course.
“Mechanical stuff can be challenging to kind of iron out instantly,” he mentioned. ”For me I’m taking a look at it like I’ve to simply hold following the method. My bullpens have been getting higher, my catch-play has been getting higher. (Monday) the outcomes weren’t actually higher, however when it comes to executing pitches it was higher.
“We’ve still got more to go with it. I feel like I’m on the right track.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com