Cease (2-1) allowed four earned runs on eight hits and two walks while striking out three across 5.1 innings to take the loss Thursday against the Guardians.
Cease surrendered his first home run of the season in the third inning to Franmil Reyes, which accounted for two of his earned runs. The trouble continued when he allowed six runners to reach base across his final 1.1 frames, resulting in two additional runs being scored. While Cease has largely been strong to begin the season, he has issued multiple free passes in all three of his starts so far. Even so, he has a strong 3.38 ERA with a 19:7 K:BB across 16 innings early on in the campaign.