Chicago White Sox pitcher Dylan Cease collected three hits Tuesday at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati.
And he was pretty good at his day job, too.
Cease allowed one hit, matched a career high with 11 strikeouts and walked three in six innings as the Sox beat the Cincinnati Reds, 9-0.
Cease, José Ruiz and Alex McRae combined to limit the Reds to two hits.
It was Cease’s second consecutive strong start after going the distance and allowing three hits while striking out nine in an 11-0 victory against the Detroit Tigers in the seven-inning second game of a doubleheader Thursday at Guaranteed Rate Field.
Cease was just as impressive at the plate Tuesday, going 3-for-3.
He hit a high chopper to third and reached on an infield single in the second. He doubled to the right-field wall and scored in the fourth and singled to right one inning later, becoming the first Sox pitcher with at least three hits in a game since Tom Bradley on May 14, 1972, against the Baltimore Orioles.
Cease was far from the only offensive star for the Sox on the same day center fielder Luis Robert officially went on the 10-day injured list after suffering a grade 3 strain of his right hip flexor Sunday against the Cleveland Indians.
José Abreu had a home run, single and three RBIs while Tim Anderson singled twice and drove in three. Yoán Moncada and Nick Madrigal had two hits and one RBI apiece.
Cease had his third hit before the Reds got their first. Tucker Barnhart singled leading off the bottom of the fifth for Cincinnati’s first hit; Cease struck out the next three batters.
Cease struck out two more in the sixth.
According to STATS, Cease became the second pitcher in the modern era to strike out 10 or more, allow no more than one hit and also have at least three hits in a game, joining Catfish Hunter in his perfect game on May 8, 1968, for the Oakland Athletics against the Minnesota Twins.
