CLEVELAND — Dylan Cease felt “synced up” the night before.
And Michael Kopech was in a rhythm — again — that he doesn’t want to get out of.
That nicely cadenced march you hear is the sound of a White Sox rotation that, believed to be a strength going into the season, is finally putting together a significant string of performances.
Kopech’s seven innings of scoreless ball in a 6-0 victory over the Guardians Wednesday afternoon is the latest and his second dominating start in a row. He retired the first 12 batters with eight strikeouts before Josh Naylor’s single to center leading off the fifth and finished with nine strikeouts, one walk and just two hits allowed.
In the last 13 games, Sox starters have pitched to a 2.36 ERA. That includes a one-inning opener Monday from reliever Jimmy Lambert that was followed by five innings of one-run ball from Triple-A callup Jesse Scholtens, who will probably fill in for one more outing before Mike Clevinger comes off the injured list.
Wednesday’s result gave the Sox (21-30) their third straight series win, and their fifth victory in six games and 14th of 23 as they try to gain early ground in an AL Central Division that is winnable, even for them. They’re 5 1⁄2 games behind the first-place Twins (26-24).
In his previous start against the Royals Friday, Kopech retired the first 16 batters he faced and worked a career-high eight scoreless innings, striking out 10 walking none and allowing one hit. In three of his previous four starts, he allowed one hit. In his last two, he hasn’t allowed a run while giving up only three hits and one walk while striking out 19.
Tim Anderson’s RBI single with two out in the third plated the first run. In the fourth, Guardians righty Cal Quantrill filled the bases walking two, before Jake Burger’s sacrifice fly, Romy Gonzalez’ fly-ball double to the right field warning track, a wild pitch and Seby Zavala’s sacrifice fly added up to five runs and a 6-0 lead.
Manager Pedro Grifol said before the game that he doesn’t pay attention to how many games the Sox are out of first place.
“We’re 10 under,” he said. “We’re not going to the playoffs 10 under. It doesn’t matter how many games we’re back, we have to worry about us being prepared to win games. The standings will take care of themselves.
“It’s about us improving every single day and getting better. My focus now is getting us to play good defense, finding a way to continue to pitch the way we’re pitching and continuing to improve with runners in scoring position, with two strikes, moving runners over and playing team baseball. Just improving every day.”
After losing the first game of the series 3-0, Cease held the Guardians to two runs in six innings in a 4-2 victory Tuesday, saying he felt “the best I have have in a while.”
Sox relievers are also performing well. Reynaldo Lopez and Jimmy Lambert mopped up with scoreless work, giving the bullpen a 1.99 ERA in its last 15 games.