The Chicago White Sox enter August above .500.
Back in spring coaching, that will have appeared a given contemplating the expertise on a staff that broke camp with World Series aspirations.
But it took six robust innings from Dylan Cease on Sunday to make it a actuality because the Sox beat the Oakland Athletics 4-1 in entrance of 30,028 at Guaranteed Rate Field.
Cease allowed one run on 4 hits with seven strikeouts and one stroll to win his fourth consecutive begin.
“They are all different (outings),” Cease mentioned, “however this one was a bit of bushy within the sense they virtually hit three dwelling runs in (the second) inning, however thankfully two of these went foul. They battled rather well. I tip my cap to them. I’m lucky and I’m grateful we got here away with that.
“All-around really good team win. Offense backed me up. Defense was great. Bullpen was great. Can’t draw it up much better.”
The Sox took two of three from the A’s — homeowners of the worst file within the American League — to enhance to 51-50.
“You can’t deny we haven’t been playing better baseball,” Cease mentioned. “If we reach our peak and start firing on all cylinders at the right time, it’s much better to do that late than it is to do that early. We got all the rust out early.”
It’s solely the second time since profitable on May 25 that the Sox have been one recreation above .500. The different incidence got here Tuesday with a 2-1 win towards the Colorado Rockies.
Sporadic scoring has been a part of the problem. The energy appeared Sunday with solo dwelling runs by José Abreu and Eloy Jiménez.
Abreu’s homer, his twelfth of the season, began a three-run rally within the second.
Josh Harrison doubled with two outs and scored on Leury García’s single to proper. Seby Zavala drove in García with a double, giving the Sox a 3-1 lead.
Jiménez led off the seventh with a homer to right-center, making it 4-1.
“He’s really looking good,” Sox supervisor Tony La Russa mentioned of Jiménez, who has a six-game hitting streak. “And he’s moving all right in the outfield too. That’s a big bat in there.”
The lone run Cease allowed got here by way of a second-inning homer by Ramón Laureano. Seth Brown and Stephen Piscotty hit lengthy fly balls that landed foul within the inning. Cease struck out Brown, and Piscotty flied out to proper.
Cease improved to 11-4 whereas decreasing his ERA to 2.01.
“I want to be consistent,” he mentioned. “I want to be someone you can count on. So to give us a chance to win almost every time, it’s as much as I can ask for.”
Cease is 7-2 with an 0.51 ERA, 90 strikeouts and a .180 opponents common in his final 12 begins. All 4 runs he allowed through the stretch had been solo dwelling runs.
“I’ve got the kind of stuff where I just have to attack the zone and get ahead of guys,” Cease mentioned. “My defense has been great. Seby has been unbelievable back there (catching). So it really isn’t just me. It’s the coaching staff, everybody.”
Cease is the primary Sox pitcher since at the very least 1913 to file a sub-1.00 ERA in consecutive months with a minimal of 25 innings pitched in every month. He had an 0.33 ERA on the way in which to incomes AL Pitcher of the Month honors in June and an 0.76 ERA in July.
“The good thing (is) he does it (in) different ways,” La Russa mentioned. “If you’re recreation planning towards him, he’ll look this manner on this begin and tweaks it and goes this manner. It’s good to have the ability to have that type of repertoire.
“He has great presence. I can tell he’s confident.”
Reliever Joe Kelly walked one and struck out one in a scoreless seventh. It was his first outing since leaving Wednesday’s recreation in Colorado with proper biceps discomfort.
“Now the key is keep him healthy, keep all those guys healthy,” La Russa mentioned.
Kendall Graveman and Liam Hendriks adopted with scoreless innings because the Sox ended July by profitable 10 of their final 15. They path the AL Central-leading Minnesota Twins by two video games.
“We’ve been through a lot to get to this point,” La Russa mentioned. “We’re in rivalry, so we’re going to be enthusiastic about it and deal with each sequence prefer it’s the final one we’re going to play and know we have now to get a variety of wins.
“The most enjoyable that you may have through the common season is to get to the final two months and have an opportunity. It’s the place every part is amped up in each second and each at-bat. We’re ready to try this. We simply should get the wins.
“We’re excited. However we got here, we’re in contention and Kansas City three times (starting Monday at Guaranteed Rate Field). That’s the fun.”
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