Cease (3-1) beat the Orioles on Thursday, giving up one run on four hits and two walks while striking out 10 over six innings.
Cease used all he had to get the win, throwing 111 pitches, including 29 swings-and-misses. That swing-and-miss total matched the Mets' Jacob deGrom for the most in the majors this season. As evidenced by the pitch count, it wasn't easy for Cease, who pitched out of jams in the first and sixth innings. The right-hander told Scott Merkin of MLB.com that he was motivated by his performance in his previous start, when the Yankees knocked him around for his first loss of the season. "A game like that is kind of like a slap to the face," said Cease. "It's like all right, you've got to make sure you get ahead in the count. You don't want to give them anything unnecessary so if you fall behind, it's a lot easier to hit." Cease's next turn in the rotation comes around Monday on the road against Cleveland.