If Dylan Cease didn’t know his seventh major league start would have a different, more challenging feel than most of the others, the Astros let him know right away when George Springer hit the rookie right-hander’s first pitch 467 feet into the left field seats at Guaranteed Rate Field.
Granted, Cease had faced (and lost to) a strong lineup against the Twins, the major leagues’ record-setting home run hitting outfit, two starts ago. But the Astros, World Series champions two seasons ago and a popular choice to win another in 2019, posed a boy-versus-men test for the 23-year-old Cease getting his first taste of the big leagues.
Cease (2-5, 5.54 ERA) can be his own worst critic and he did not give himself another passing mark despite allowing two earned runs (four altogether) over six-plus innings for his first quality start in a 6-2 loss in the first game of a doubleheader Tuesday. He walked five (one intentional) and gave up two homers while striking out only two, two below his season low.
“For me, at the end of the day it’s how I execute pitches and I didn’t feel like I did it great today,” said Cease, unsatisfied with the command of his upper-90s fastball and sharpness of his big curveball. “I always judge my outings on that, not necessarily the results because those can be misleading.’’
Perhaps, but after Jose Altuve launched a 106-mph rocket into the left-field seats in the third inning, Cease retired the next 11 batters he faced, seven via the ground ball. Both unearned runs scored on passed balls by Welington Castillo, who had a rough game behind the plate with a third passed ball with Jace Fry pitching in the seventh.
On the first passed ball, Castillo’s flip to Cease covering home almost got Yordan Alvarez (who had walked with two out and nobody on base in the sixth), a replay challenge going in the Astros’ favor. On the second, with Kelvin Herrera pitching, Castillo whiffed on another high heater that hit umpire Todd Tichenor, allowing Jake Marisnick to score an unearned run on Cease’s ledger. Without talking to Castillo first, Renteria and Cease were unable to offer an explanation for Castillo’s misadventures.
The 32-year-old Castillo’s days as a Sox are numbered — his contract is up after this season and the way he’s performing behind the plate and with a .195/.267/.346 hitting line in 50 games it’s conceivable he doesn’t last the season — so for the Sox’ big picture, Renteria greater interest would be Cease’s progress.
Cease, after all, is the future. The Sox are counting on him to be an important piece of their rotation next season, and perhaps a piece near its top. Renteria gave a vote of confidence intentionally walking Yordan Alvarez to load the bases in the first inning, and Cease responded by getting an inning-ending double play ball off the bat of Yuli Gurriel.
“He’s getting better with every outing,” Renteria said. “Today was certainly a big one. [Pitching coach Don Cooper] was saying, ‘It’s a lot of confidence you showed when you walked to load the bases in the first. I have confidence in Dylan Cease and he made a good pitch to get out of that inning. He’s got good stuff.”
Cease threw 98 pitches, 56 for strikes, seven of them swing-and-miss strikes. He avoided the big inning, a bugaboo for him in previous starts.
“As he learns to command and execute, he’s going to give himself a chance and put himself in a position where he gets deeper in ballgames,” Renteria said.
The Sox were in this one against right-hander Zack Greinke (12-4, 3.08 ERA), thanks to RBI doubles by Eloy Jimenez and Jose Abreu in the fourth and fifth innings. The Astros pecked away with a run in the sixth against Cease and in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings against the bullpen to pad the lead.
“I didn’t execute pitches that great, but we had a chance to win so that was OK,” Cease said. “But I mean, it’s hard to be happy with a loss.”
