Dylan Cease walked seven batters in three-plus innings Sunday for the Chicago White Sox in a 7-3 loss to the Reds at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati.
Cease allowed three runs on no hits. He struck out five, but the walks did him in. He exited after walking the first three batters in the fourth.
The Sox walked 11 Reds in all Sunday and dropped two of the three games in the series.
Sox shortstop Tim Anderson left in the seventh with cramping in his right hamstring. He reached for the back of his right leg after a swing. The Sox said Anderson is day to day.
The magic number for the Sox (34-19) to clinch the American League Central remains four, pending the outcome of Sunday night’s Twins-Cubs game.
Nick Madrigal and Jose Abreu each had two hits and one RBI for the Sox. Abreu leads the AL with 53 RBIs. Edwin Encarnacion hit a solo homer in the eighth.
But the Sox struck out 14 times and couldn’t dig out of a big early hole.
After a perfect first, command started becoming an issue for Cease in the second. He walked two batters and hit another. The Reds loaded the bases with two outs, but Cease got Tucker Barnhart to ground out to Abreu to end the threat.
Cease walked two more in the third but escaped without giving up a run.
The Sox walked six, the first three by Cease, during a five-run fourth for the Reds. Mike Moustakas drove in two with a two-out single off Ross Detwiler, the Reds’ first hit of the game, to make it 5-0.
It was the first time the Sox surrendered at least 10 walks through four innings since May 7, 1992, against the Red Sox (12 walks through four), according to STATS. Charlie Hough walked five and Wilson Alvarez walked seven in that game.
No major-league team had done it since June 2, 2002, when the Montreal Expos walked 10 Phillies through four innings, according to STATS.
Cease had his shortest outing since going 2? innings in his first start of the season July 28 in Cleveland.
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