2020 OOTP sim: White Sox crush Royals, 14-0
CHICAGO — On a 43 degree night, the Chicago White Sox got back to .500 in magical fashion.
On the offensive side of things, the club broke out of its malaise and clobbered 16 hits, led by three apiece from Luis Robert and Yoán Moncada.
But talking blowout first buries the lede, as Dylan Cease had the performance of his lifetime, with a two-hit shutout and 13 strikeouts. His 95 game score has been topped by only 300 starts in major league history (and if that doesn't sound impressive, there are 9,720 starts per season in the modern era, and have been upward of a million starts in baseball history.
"Just unbelievable," Cease said after the game, soaked in beer to celebrate both his first complete game and shutout in the majors. "A 95 game score? I'm not even sure exactly what that is, but if you tell me it's rare, I'll take it."
Briefly touching on the offensive highlights, Nick Madrigal made it a 3-0 game with a two-run homer (his third) in the second inning. In the third, the White Sox extended to 6-0, highlighted by a José Abreu two-run double. In the fourth, Moncada crushed an 0-2 offering out to make it 7-0. And in the sixth, the White Sox batted around in extending their lead to 11-0. Finally, in the seventh, Nomar Mazara got a pinch-hit attempt as the game was out of hand — and he promptly clocked a three-run bomb.
And, back to Cease, he didn't whimper his way to the finish. With manager Ricky Renteria having one eye on the pitch count (the righty ended at 115), Alex Gordon led off the ninth with a single. From there, Cease dug deep and struck out the side, with Ks' 11, 12 and 13. Only two members of the Royals lineup managed not to whiff against Cease during his masterpiece.
The White Sox will send out Matt Tomshaw on Wednesday in hopes of clinching a series win and climbing back above .500 before a West Coast road trip begins in Anaheim on Thursday.
Actor (final credit: murdered by Albert Einstein in "Carnage Hall"), musician (Ethnocentric Republicans), and Nerf hoops champion, Wiffleball aficionado and onetime bilingual kindergarten teacher, Brett Ballantini also writes about baseball, basketball and sometimes hockey, for the NBA, MLB, NHL, and Slam, Hoop, Sporting News, the Athletic, SB Nation and others. He was CSN Chicago’s Blackhawks beat writer when their 49-year Stanley Cup drought ended in 2009-10, and took over the White Sox beat after that. He currently is the editor-in-chief of South Side Hit Pen and beat writer for Inside the Rays. He also wrote a book about Ozzie Guillén but is running out of space, so follow him on Twitter @BrettBallantini and he'll probably tell you even more about himself than you ever wanted to know.
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