The first eight White Sox Cactus League games were mostly characterized by starts from pitchers who will begin the season in the minor leagues, including two outings by the erstwhile Ross Detwiler.
But the past three days, we've seen Dallas Keuchel, Reynaldo Lopez and Dylan Cease get on the mound, and results for the most part have been good.
Cease was perhaps the most impressive of the three. On Wednesday, he worked four innings in a 5-1 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers. He allowed one run on three hits -- a solo home run to Keston Hiura -- while striking out five and issuing no walks.
I'm encouraged for two reasons. First, no walks. That really can't be emphasized enough. I really don't care that Cease gave up a home run, because it was a solo home run. Last season, we saw Cease get himself and the team in real trouble by walking a couple of guys, then giving up a home run. Solo home runs are much easier to overcome than three-run shots and grand slams.
Secondly, Cease got through the first two innings unscathed. The home run did not come until the fourth inning. As you may recall, Cease had a 9.00 ERA in the first inning, and a 9.64 ERA during the second inning, in 2019. He has to get out of the habit of putting his team two and three runs down early in games, and so far, he's avoided trouble out of the gate this spring.
The Sox lost, 6-5, to the Oakland A's on Tuesday, but most of the runs were scored late. Lopez pitched three innings, allowing one run on three hits. He struck out three and walked three, and that control is one area Lopez needs to clean up. One walk an inning isn't going to cut it, but the good news is he kept the ball in the yard and missed some bats.
As you may recall, Lopez surrendered 35 home runs in 184 innings pitched in 2019, so if there's one guy on the Sox's staff who needs to focus on not giving up the long ball, it's Lopez. I'd be more concerned about him giving up home runs than I would be Cease.
As for Keuchel, he was as advertised Monday in a 3-1 loss to the San Diego Padres. He pitched to contact and gave up his share of hits -- six in four innings -- but San Diego only scored one run off him. Keuchel struck out only one, but he didn't walk anybody.
That's pretty much what I'm expecting from Keuchel this year -- a lot of balls put in play, but hopefully, it will be a ton of soft contact in the infield. In this outing, Keuchel recorded eight groundball outs, and not a single flyball out.
That's the formula we're looking for from the veteran left-hander.
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