Cease did not factor into the decision Thursday against the Cubs, allowing two hits and one walk while striking out 10 over seven scoreless innings.
Cease threw 66 of his 104 pitches for strikes and recorded his fifth double-digit strikeout performance over his last 10 outings despite generating just 10 whiffs. Unfortunately for the right-hander, closer Louis Varland was unable to maintain a two-run lead. Cease has now authored six consecutive quality starts, posting a sparkling 0.84 ERA with 56 strikeouts across 43 innings during that span. Four of those six outings have featured at least seven scoreless innings. He will carry a 2.28 ERA, 1.04 WHIP and 184:52 K:BB across 126.1 innings into his next scheduled start Wednesday against the Red Sox.