Dylan

Cease

Cease surrendered a solo homer to Byron Buxton to start the bottom of the first inning. A walk, two hits, and an error brought in two more runs in the second before the Twins added a fourth run in the fifth. Cease would settle in to complete seven frames on 106 pitches, 66 for strikes, and struck out seven batters on 16 whiffs. The 30-year-old right-hander will take a 3.05 ERA, 1.33 WHIP, and a 56/18 K/BB ratio across 38 1/3 innings into a start against the Angels in Toronto on Friday.

With his velocity down a little, Cease struck out a season-low five while giving up season-high run and hit (seven) totals. He still didn’t give up any homers for the sixth straight start. He’ll take a 2.87 ERA into his next start Saturday against Minnesota.

Blue Jays skipper John Schneider made it official that Yesavage will return to Toronto’s injury-decimated rotation with Eric Lauer going to the bullpen. The other ripple effect is Dylan Cease being pushed back to Monday with Patrick Corbin starting Sunday against Cleveland. The 22-year-old top pitching prospect is unlikely to shoulder a significant workload early on, but he still offers enough strikeout upside to warrant a roster spot in all fantasy formats.

If you’re going to pick up your first win with your new team, you might as well strike out a dozen in the process. That’s just good manners. Cease was able to get 18 swings-and-misses on his offerings, and he issued just two walks. While it is his first win, that says more about the lack of run support than anything he’s done wrong; he now sports a 2.10 ERA and a 44/19 K/BB over his first 25 2/3 innings with the Jays. The only complaint here is that because Cease needed to throw 110 pitches, he wasn’t able to get deeper into the game. He should obviously be in fantasy lineups for Sunday’s scheduled tilt against the Guardians.

Cease struck out six before leaving with a 1-0 lead that didn’t hold up. Both hits against him were singles. He’s opened his Blue Jays career with a 1.74 ERA and 32 strikeouts over 20 2/3 innings in four starts, but he’s yet to factor into a decision. He’ll get the Angels next.

Cease struck out eight while allowing one unearned run in a tie game through five. If he’d still been pitching for the Padres, that probably would have been the end of his day. However, the Blue Jays were hoping for a little more, given the current state of their rotation. Unfortunately, the sixth started with a walk, a single and another walk, necessitating his removal. Louis Varland came in with the bases loaded and none out and managed to strand two of three baserunners, with Teoscar Hernández’s sac fly producing one run. Cease has a 2.45 ERA through three starts, but he’s yet to be involved in a decision. He’ll face Milwaukee next time out.

Cease’s own error led to the unearned run in the first. In the third, he gave up two more runs on a walk, a soft groundball single, a double steal and another single. Cease would up with 16 whiffs and just four hard-hit balls in the 93-pitch outing. Ideally, he would have been more efficient while striking out six and walking three, but that’s not really his specialty. He’s sittable in shallow leagues next week with the Dodgers on the schedule.

Cease was outstanding in his debut with the Blue Jays. The 30-year-old right-hander dominated the A’s over five shutout innings before a walk and a double brought a run in to score in the sixth. Cease would end his day with one out in the inning at 90 pitches -- 61 for strikes. His fastball was sitting at 98.7 mph, up 1.6 mph from last season. He generated an incredible 24 whiffs to collect a dozen strikeouts, at one point striking out seven consecutive batters. Cease will look to follow his excellent start with a matchup against the White Sox in Chicago on Sunday.

Because he was lined up to throw on a couple of the Jays’ off days, Cease ends the spring with just 9 2/3 innings pitched, but he did well to allow only one run and strike out 12. He’s right where he needs to be ahead of his official Blue Jays debut against the A’s on Saturday.

Lauer earns his spot in Toronto’s season-opening rotation with rookie sensation Trey Yesavage (shoulder) along with veterans Shane Bieber (forearm) and José Berríos (elbow) heading to the injured list. Big-ticket offseason acquisition Dylan Cease will get the ball following Opening Day starter Kevin Gausman. It’ll be Cody Ponce and Max Scherzer rounding out the initial rotation.