Dylan Cease makes early exit after taking ball off elbow originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
CLEVELAND — Dylan Cease was in the middle of another very good night in his breakout season.
Then he took a batted ball off his throwing elbow.
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The Chicago White Sox starting pitcher was cruising against the Cleveland Indians on Friday when a sixth-inning comebacker off the bat of Bradley Zimmer hit Cease in the elbow. Clearly not feeling too good, Cease squatted on the infield grass for a long while as the trainer and manager Tony La Russa came out for a visit. Cease eventually got up to throw a few practice tosses and test things out, but La Russa seemingly made the executive decision that his pitcher call it a day.
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While Cease's status moving forward was obviously unknown at the time of this writing, another question mark pops up in what has been, for the vast majority of the campaign, a dominant starting rotation.
Carlos Rodón is currently experiencing persistent shoulder soreness, the White Sox attempting to ready him for a start next week to determine his status for the postseason. Cease and Rodón figured to provide a stacked starting staff behind Lucas Giolito and Lance Lynn as the White Sox chased a World Series championship. Both pitchers could still very well be a part of that rotation and be just as dominant as projected. But with Rodón's status still a mystery and Cease leaving early Friday night, the rotation will remain a focus as the postseason nears.
Cease was very good Friday in Cleveland, throwing five scoreless innings before allowing a one-out single on the ball off his arm. He was one strikeout away from his ninth double-digit-strikeout effort of the season.
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