Dylan Cease knew right away that his slider was clicking on Tuesday night. So he decided to lean on it.
“It was just one of those where it seemed to be there from the beginning, so I kept going to it,” Cease said following the White Sox’ thrilling 7-6 win over the Blue Jays in extra innings.
But saying his slider was “there from the beginning” is a bit of an understatement. Cease was so dialed in with that one pitch that he used it to strike out five consecutive batters to start the game. By the time his night was done, he struck out 11 Blue Jays, and he did it all with the slider.
“It feels like if I get it in the zone, I’m pretty much unhittable,” Cease said of his performance. “So, that’s kinda what I was rolling with today.”
Cease nearly did hold the Blue Jays hitless, too. But in the sixth inning Lourdes Gurriel Jr. was able to beat out a slow rolling grounder to shortstop, giving Toronto its lone hit against him. According to Cease it’s not that his slider had any better “stuff” than usual on Tuesday night, it’s that he was able to command it better.
“Being able to get it to that down and away quadrant consistently, I just think as a hitter it’s hard to lay off that,” Cease said. “Then, throwing strikes with it as well, just puts them in swing mode.”
It’s something that Cease has worked on this season. Essentially, he wanted to figure out where to start the pitch, so that it would finish effectively. Safe to say he figured it out on Tuesday, and when the Blue Jays couldn’t figure out how to hit it, he had no reason to try anything else. Looking back, Cease said it was probably the best he’s ever thrown a slider in his life. We’ll see if he’s able to recreate that success moving forward, so that he has another devastating out pitch in his arsenal.
