This is the Cease we’ve been waiting for. The 29-year-old right-hander had his best start of the season against a tough Dodgers lineup, holding Los Angeles scoreless over seven innings while collecting a season-high 11 strikeouts on 24 whiffs. Cease will look to follow up the strong outing when he takes a 4.28 ERA, 1.30 WHIP, and a 96/29 K/BB ratio across 75 2/3 innings into a start against the same Dodgers in Los Angeles on Monday.

He also struck out seven and walked three while posting a 48 percent whiff rate and 41 percent CSW. Cease was missing plenty of bats today, but he only had a 50 percent zone rate with the four-seam fastball, which led to some walks and deeper counts than he would have preferred. Still, this start had more good than bad in it, and it seems like Cease is set for a strong run of performance in the near future. It may not start next week against the Dodgers though.

The 29-year-old hurler still managed to rack up eight strikeouts in the contest without walking a batter, so it wasn’t all bad for fantasy managers. He allowed an RBI double to Ozzie Albies in the second inning, then the Braves scratched out another pair of runs in Cease’s final inning of work on a sacrifice fly and a wild pitch. Cease got 19 swings and misses on 88 pitches on the day — a staggering 14 of those on his slider — while posting a CSW of 31 percent. He’ll look to bounce back as he carries a 4.58 ERA, 1.25 WHIP and a 72/20 K/BB ratio (59 innings) into Saturday’s strong matchup against the Pirates.