SOX GET INTO THE SWING
Cease struggles in 1st playoff outing, but offensive eruption keeps team alive in AL Division Series
Guaranteed Rate Field was jumping. And then it wasn’t.
And then it came alive again.
The White Sox’ 12-6 victory Sunday against the Astros was that kind of wild game on the South Side.
When right-hander Dylan Cease walked toward the bullpen, knowing how badly his team needed him, the Sox’ first home crowd of this postseason knew it, too. The fans stood up with a loud roar for Cease as he got ready to face the Astros’ deep lineup, his team trailing two games to none in a bestof-five American League Division Series and facing elimination.
If Cease had known the Sox would have scored nine runs in the first four innings, he would have planned the victory party in the bullpen. Left-hander Carlos Rodon, waiting for the favorable outcome in Game 3 that cut the Astros’ series lead to 2-1 and gave him a chance to start in Game 4 on Monday, would have, too.
‘‘When he came up, you saw a kid with all the ability in the world,’’ Rodon said of Cease. ‘‘Three three-plus pitches and the changeup, overpowering fastball. And over the course of this year, it really has evolved. The command and the strikeout numbers are up.’’
It was the first postseason appearance for Cease (13-7, 3.91 ERA), who had 226 strikeouts in 165‰ innings in the regular season but was knocked out in the second inning after giving up three runs. It was the latest in a series of three bad starts for a starting rotation that had helped propel the Sox to the AL Central title.
Michael Kopech relieved Cease and gave up three more runs. But lifted by the energy at a rollicking, dressed-in-black ballpark, the Sox rallied from a 5-1 deficit to take a 9-6 lead with five runs in the third and three more in the fourth.
Yasmani Grandal hit a two-run home run to left and Leury Garcia a three-run homer to center — after Astros manager Dusty Baker had lifted starter Luis Garcia for Yimi Garcia with a 2-0 count — in the third to put the Sox in front 6-5.
After the Astros tied the score on an RBI single by Alex Bregman in the fourth, the Sox scored three in a wild fourth against Yimi Garcia and Zack Greinke to build a 9-6 lead.
That inning started with consecutive singles by Tim Anderson, Luis Robert and Jose Abreu, producing the go-ahead run. Robert then scored from third — and toppled plate umpire Tom Hallion — on Grandal’s grounder when first baseman Yuri Gurriel’s throw to the plate glanced off Grandal’s left arm and went to the backstop. Baker argued that Grandal was too far inside the baseline, but it was to no avail after the umpires huddled to talk it over.
The first four innings featured 17 hits (11 by the Sox) and took 2oe hours. The good omen for the Sox, who had no extra-base hits in the first two games of the series, was the emergence of the home run. The Sox were 79-27 in the regular season when they hit a homer and 43-6 when they hit two or more.
The game settled down after the fourth, thanks to two perfect innings with three strikeouts by Ryan Tepera and five consecutive outs by Aaron Bummer, who struck out Michael Brantley, Bregman, Yordan Alvarez and Carlos Correa in order. Tepera and Bummer combined for six strikeouts in a row.
It was the most dominating stretch of pitching in the series for the Sox, who still are looking for their first good outing from a starter. Lance Lynn lasted 3‰ innings in Game 1, allowing five runs; Lucas Giolito went 4„ innings in Game 2, giving up four runs; and Cease yielded three runs in 1‰ innings. That’s a total of 12 runs allowed in only 9‰ innings.