Herrera halts Cease’s masterpiece

CLEVELAND — For seven innings, Dylan Cease spun a masterpiece.

It took Kelvin Herrera just four batters to ruin it.

Cleveland rallied for four runs in the eighth inning off of Herrera, squandering seven innings of two-hit, seven-K (five-walk) pitching from the young White Sox starter. Greg Allen doubled, Oscar Mercado singled him to third, Herrera balked a run in, José Ramírez singled and Francisco Lindor doubled to complete the stunning comeback, 4-2.

From the get-go, Chicago struggled to solve Scott Moss, who mostly held serve with Cease through seven innings. In the first, Moss walked two White Sox — but struck out three. Through three innings, Moss already had six Ks, Cease five.

Both starters were spinning one-hitters through five innings. Unfortunately for Moss, the sole White Sox hit was an Eloy Jiménez two-run homer, setting the southpaw up for a potential loss.

Still, Moss shined, finishing with nine strikeouts and just two hits, two runs and four walks. Cease would leave with a 75 game score fueled by seven scoreless innings, two hits, five walks and seven Ks.

Before Cleveland’s onslaught in the eighth, the White Sox squandered a chance at some insurance runs. Two Cleveland errors and an Adam Engel single loaded the bases with one out, but Edwin Encarnación forced Engel at home with a grounder, and James McCann flew out to right field

After the game, manager Ricky Renteria demurred when asked if Herrera was again hurt. The righthander, expected to slide into the setup role he held securely in 2019 before injuries set in, has had two disastrous outings so far this season that have led to seven earned runs in two-thirds of an inning, for a 94.50 ERA. GM Rick Hahn had a tense meeting with Renteria immediately after the game, the presumed subject being Herrera.

NOTES: It was a second straight of miserable weather in Cleveland, but at least this game was dry ... José Abreu returns to the lineup tomorrow for the rubber game of the series ... Luis Robert has gone 1-for-18 (.056) in his first five major league games, and Ricky Renteria hinted he might sit out Wednesday’s finale ... Eloy Jiménez has put up 0.8 WAR already this season.

Around the majors

• MIke Trout hit two homers (three on the season), but Todd Frazier clocked his fifth to lead Texas (4-1) to an 8-4 win over the Angels (2-3).
• Jacob DeGrom threw 8 ⅔ scoreless innings, with 11 Ks, in a 6-0 Mets (2-3) win over Philadelphia (2-4).
• The Reds (2-3) scored in the top of the 12th inning at Toronto (3-3), but the Blue Jays plated two for the 5-4 win.
• Gleyber Torres suffered a significant knee injury that will sideline him for several weeks in the 6-3 Yankees (4-1) loss at Tampa Bay (1-4).
• Pittsburgh (4-1) slapped 20 hits on the Cubs (2-3) in a 14-5 romp.
• Colorado (2-4) put up four runs in the ninth inning to stun the Dodgers (3-2), 6-4.