Cease (4-3) picked up the win in Tuesday's 6-1 victory over the Red Sox, allowing four hits and four walks over five scoreless innings. He struck out seven.
The right-hander tossed 66 of 108 pitches for strikes and kept Boston off the board despite putting runners in scoring position in every inning he worked. It was Cease's first win since May 8, but he's hardly been pitching poorly -- in five trips to the mound since then he sports a 2.93 ERA, 1.12 WHIP and 44:13 K:BB over 27.2 innings. Cease's 110 strikeouts on the season put him third in the majors behind Jacob Misiorowski's 131 and Cristopher Sanchez's 116, but his 13.6 K/9 is tops in MLB among qualified pitchers. Cease will look to stack another strong effort in his next outing, which is scheduled to come on the road this weekend against the Cubs.