CHICAGO _ The nerves were there early.
And so was the electric stuff.
Dylan Cease made his much-anticipated big-league debut Wednesday for the White Sox. He settled in after a tough first inning and earned the victory as the Sox defeated the Tigers 7-5 in front of 26,023 at Guaranteed Rate Field.
Cease allowed three runs on four hits in five innings.
Cease's fastball was clocked in the high 90s. He finished with six strikeouts and four walks. He threw 101 pitches.
Cease, 23, battled the nerves and command issues in the first, when he walked three batters and hit another. Harold Castro drove in two runs with a single to give the Tigers a 2-0 lead.
The Sox scored once in the first and second. Yolmer Sanchez put the Sox ahead with an RBI double in the fourth. Sanchez scored later in the inning on a sacrifice fly by Ryan Cordell.
Sanchez, Cordell and All-Stars James McCann and Jose Abreu each had two hits. Sanchez, McCann and Cordell each had two RBIs.
Cease threw 33 pitches in the first inning, 17 strikes and 16 balls. He then settled into a groove. Cease struck out JaCoby Jones with a slider in the second for the first strikeout of his career. Cease struck out two in the inning.
He struck out two more batters in the fourth. Jeimer Candelario hit a solo homer in the fifth, but Cease also struck out two batters in his final inning.
Cease wore No. 84. According to Baseball Reference, Cease became the third player in major-league history to wear 84, joining Prince Fielder (2014-16) and J.T. Snow (2006).
Cease is the No. 3 prospect in the organization and the No. 18 overall in baseball, according to MLB.com. He went 5-2 with a 4.48 ERA and 73 strikeouts in 15 starts this season with Triple-A Charlotte.
And he began his big-league career on a good note.
