Cease bounces back with scoreless start

One week ago, Dylan Cease walked off the mound after allowing seven earned runs on nine hits and two walks in two innings against Down East for Class A Advanced Winston-Salem. On Friday night, he had an opportunity for revenge and returned the favor. 
The fifth-ranked White Sox prospect gave up two hits and two walks over six innings, striking out six, as the Dash defeated Down East, 6-0, at Grainger Stadium.

"We stuck with the same game plan we had for Down East the last couple times we played him when he's pitched," Dash pitching coach Matt Zaleski said. "It's pretty much just attack with his fastball. The game before, where he got hit around a little, it was the execution of pitches. That's just something we stressed between these last two starts."
Gameday box score
The Wood Ducks also tagged Cease for four earned runs in five innings on April 18. To this point, they had been his kryptonite. And simply underscoring execution can be easier said than done, Zaleski said. 
"You stress the execution and sometimes it doesn't happen," the pitching coach said. "From pitch to pitch, you're focused on the pitch and what [the catcher] calls, you commit to it and then you throw it aggressively in the zone. More often that not, good things happen. 
"He looked like a pitcher tonight, not just a thrower, which can be seen in the past with powerful arm guys. ... He was mixing pitches, mixing speeds and doing a good job that way." 
Cease (5-2) looked like his usual self, holding the Wood Ducks without a hit until top Rangers prospectLeody Taveras led off the fourth with a single. From the outset, Zaleski could tell MLB.com's No. 56 overall prospect had good stuff, especially when he threw back-to-back curveballs for strikes against the second batter of the game, Nate Nolan. 
"It was like, 'Oh, OK, wow, he's on tonight. He's feeling everything,'" the pitching coach said.
Alex Kowalczyk singled later that inning but only after Cease picked off Taveras at first. The Georgia native threw over earlier in the at-bat with a routine look. The next time, he held the ball a little longer. Taveras became antsy, and Cease nabbed him. 
"The more you can mix up looks with a guy on first base, the more success you're going to have throwing out runners and just shutting down the running game," Zaleski said. "You don't have to necessarily throw over a ton, just mixing the looks is the biggest part." 
Brendon Davis walked with one out in the fifth and was the last Wood Duck to reach against the right-hander, who induced a double-play grounder from Melvin Novoa to end the inning. Cease "perfectly" excuted a down-and-away fastball he had been pulling off of earlier in the game -- and his last few starts. 
"That was nice to see," Zaleski said. "He executed the pitch he needed to to get the double play." 
The 22-year-old struck out the first two batters -- Blaine Prescott and Eric Jenkins -- in the sixth before getting Taveras to line to center and end his outing. Cease turned it over to right-hander Danny Dopico, who yielded one hit to finish off Winston-Salem's fourth shutout of the season and earned the three-inning save.

For the first time this season, Cease had more groundouts [four] than flyouts [three]. Zaleski said he's naturally a fly-ball pitcher because he strikes out a lot of batters, which usually coincides with fastball elevation. According to the coach, the 6-foot-2, 190-pound prospect wasn't afraid to use his fastball inside and had all three of his off-speed pitches working. 
"Usually, the high-strikeout games tend to get more fly balls because you beat a guy up and he pops it up," Zaleski said.  
Cease had allowed 17 hits in his previous eight innings, spanning two starts, including the outing against Down East. He threw 51 of 82 pitches for strikes in the bounceback performance. 
"It's definitely a great building point for the psyche," Zaleski said. "You feel a ton more confident about it. You build and roll off that, hopefully, into the next start." 
No. 13 White Sox prospect Luis Alexander Basabe went 3-for-5, drove in three runs and finished a triple shy of the cycle for the Dash, who got solo homers from Zach Remillard and Joel Booker.