Right-hander Dylan Cease was scratched from his final start of the season with a left hamstring strain Thursday, not the way the 23-year-old wanted his first half season to end. Cease strained the hamstring while warming up before the White Sox played the Indians at Guaranteed Rate Field.
Cease missed out on some nice run support led by James McCann and Daniel Palka. McCann broke a scoreless tie with a three-run homer in the fourth against right-hander Aaron Civale in the fourth inning, and Palka followed with the first of two home runs.
Jose Abreu and Zack Collins drove in runs with a triple and double, respectively, in the fifth against Carlos Carrasco.
Palka’s homers were his first extra base hits in 84 plate appearances. He led the Sox with 27 home runs last season.
In Cease’s place, the Sox used right-handed reliever Jose Ruiz for 1 2⁄3 scoreless innings to start and got 3 1⁄3 innings of scoreless ball from lefty Josh Osich.
Cease, 23, is 4-7 with a 5.79 ERA. He was scheduled to make his 15th career start, and was entering with a head of steam going 1-0 with a 3.00 ERA and 28 strikeouts over four starts in September. In his last seven starts, Cease recorded 46 strikeouts against 15 walks.
Anderson’s offense: Title quest continues
Shortstop Tim Anderson, who entered with a .339 batting average for an 11-point lead for the AL batting title, struck out, grounded out and singled to right in his first three plate appearances.
Anderson’s defense: room to improve
Anderson is on track to lead the AL in hitting and errors. But manager Rick Renteria says it’s within Anderson’s realm to cut the errors in half if he refrains from dropping his arm on some throws and releases from over the top.
“What are my goals for him? To cut everything in half, in terms of the errors,” Renteria said. “Is he capable of doing that? Yes.
“Sometimes he’s throwing from a lower angle, even from deep short. That’s a little tougher because the ball ends up fading. You’ve got to stay on top and through the ball.”
Plans for rain
The Sox play a doubleheader against the Tigers Friday and with rain in the forecast, the start time was moved up from 3:40 to 3:10.
A rainout heightens the possibility of two twinbills for Saturday and Sunday. Right-hander Ivan Nova will start one of the games Friday if the Sox are confident he won’t be stopped by rain. Reynaldo Lopez is lined up for Saturday with openers planned for the other two games.
Renteria also said Anderson would sit out a game if two doubleheaders are played.
Jimenez still out
Jimenez missed a second straight start with an ear and throat infection but could be available Friday, Renteria said.
