The Chicago White Sox beat the Texas Rangers 2-1 on Friday night, and Sox ace Dylan Seaz once again came up big. Her task for the night is:
57 of Seaz’s 91 pitches went for strikes. In addition to picking up his 12th win of the season against four losses, Cease lowered his 2022 ERA to 1.98. He also has 166 strikeouts in 122 2/3 innings this season. This is clearly the best, and his excellence in his last 13 starts has been historic:
In fact, Seaz hasn’t allowed more than one earned run in a start since the Red Sox held him to seven earned runs in three innings on May 24. “Unearned” designated pitchers bear some of the blame for those runs. That said, the record is for earned runs allowed, and in fact the Seas now own that record.
The 26-year-old right-hander, acquired by the Sox from the crosstown Cubs in 2017, is legal. He broke out in 2021 with a 226-strikeout season, and he’s even better in 2022 — he might even be in line to finish high in the AL Cy Young balloting. This year, Seaz has added a splitter to his pitch mix, and he’s leaned even more heavily on his wipeout slider. So far, he’s had big results, and that could suggest Seaz is ready to make it to the next level and stay there for a while. That’s important for a White Sox team that has been disappointing so far but still sits in a fairly weak AL Central.
Assuming he remains on regular rest, Seaz will try to extend his streak to 14 games against the Royals on Wednesday, Aug. 10.
