CHICAGO – Dylan Cease fell one out shy of the 21st no-hitter in White Sox history, mesmerizing the Twins until Luis Arraez lined a single with two outs in the ninth in a 13-0 Chicago victory Saturday night before 31,655 at Guaranteed Rate Field.
Cease struck out seven but faced an extended bottom of the eighth, when the Twins sent two position players to pitch, which resulted in a six-run frame for the White Sox.
Jake Cave walked leading off the third and Gilberto Celestino walked with two outs in the sixth. Otherwise, the Twins got nothing until the ninth against one of the American League’s prime Cy Young candidates.
Cease struck out Caleb Hamilton to open the ninth, then induced a flyout from Gilberto Celestino before Arraez roped a slider on a 1-1 count – Cease’s 99th pitch of the night. He finished with 103 pitches in his second career shutout.
Cease was so dominant that Twins manager Rocco Baldelli pulled Carlos Correa and Max Kepler from the lineup in the fifth with a seven-run deficit.
The White Sox scored four in the first off Tyler Mahle, punctuated by Eloy Jiménez’s three-run home run to right-center. Romy Gonzalez added a three-run blast of his own in the fourth. The White Sox have won four straight, moved one game over .500 and are one game behind the Twins in the AL Central.