Dylan Cease stopped embarrassing himself after the first inning, but his teammates saw it through to the end.
Cease worked through some early fastball problems, runner mismanagement and an early spike in his pitch count to throw six innings, which is a step in the right direction. As for the rest of the White Sox, when they weren't running into each other, throwing wildly and diving in vain, they were getting shut out by a guy named Glenn.
Indeed, Glenn Sparkman, who entered the game with an Albany area code ERA (5.18) threw a five-hitter for the first Royals shutout in more than two years. All five hits were singles, which accurately represented the quality of contact, and Sparkman became the second Royals pitcher to set a personal high in strikeouts in as many nights.
Cease was on the losing end of it from the first inning on, and he's responsible for the early problems. The Royals pounced on his fastball, and it was an omen when Eloy Jiménez had to leave the game after one Kansas City batter when he ran into Charlie Tilson on the warning track. The White Sox called it elbow soreness requiring further evaluation.
Tilson made the catch, but he had no chance on Adalberto Mondesi's lined single to center. In the first of two humiliating trips around the basepaths, Mondesi scored before Alex Gordon completed his plate appearance. He made it to second when Cease's pickoff throw got past Jose Abreu, stole third when Cease wasn't paying attention, and scampered home when Yoan Moncada failed to catch James McCann's on-target throw. Gordon eventually singled, then scored on a Hunter Dozier triple for a 2-0 lead.
Two innings later, Mondesi forced the Sox into more ugly defense. After leading off with a single, Gordon hit a chopper to short. Leury García tried firing across his body for the out, but he threw it well wide of second and into right-field foul territory a la Jose Rondón in Oakland two days before. Mondesi scored, Gordon made it to third, and while Yolmer Sánchez saved one run with a great throw home to nab Gordon on a grounder that shot between Cease's legs, Cease gave up two more singles to score another run before the third out was recorded. Both runs were unearned.
Cease then allowed two more runs in the fourth, both of which should've been unearned, but end up inflating Cease's ERA due to scoring standards. First, Tilson broke in and right instead of back and right on a Cam Gallagher line drive that went over his outstretched glove for a one-out double, and then Ryan Cordell made another ill-advised diving attempt on Whit Merrifield's sliced drive down the right-field line. It rattled around the corner as Cordell regrouped. Gallagher scored easily, and Merrifield followed him home, where a relay from Sánchez originally nailed him. Upon further review, Merrifield got his hand inside McCann's attempt to block it. McCann, who caught the ball on the first base side of home, probably should've led with his mitt instead of his foot, but knowing the Sox' luck, he might've separated his shoulder doing so.
Despite all the terrible defense behind him, Cease ended up striking out seven over six innings, throwing 67 of 108 pitches for strikes. He and McCann might've figured out a way to foil scouting reports by going to his breaking ball sooner in a game. After dropping to 0-5 and being outscored 37-7 to start the second half, there are a lot of bigger problems.
Record: 42-49 | Box score | Highlights
