Red Sox Wrap: Chris Sale Strikes Out 10 In Boston’s 6-1 Win Over White Sox

Has Chris Sale turned a corner?

The Boston lefty turned in a strong start Friday night, tossing six scoreless innings while giving up three hits, no walks and striking out 10 in the Red Sox’s 6-1 win over the Chicago White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field. The victory marked Sale’s first of the season, and it came against his former team.

Rafael Devers (2-for-5, three RBIs) and Michael Chavis (2-for-4, two RBIs) each had home runs for the Red Sox, accounting for a combined five runs, while Mookie Betts accounted for Boston’s sixth run, despite going hitless.

With the win, the Red Sox jumped to 15-18, while the White Sox dropped to 14-16.

Here’s how it all went down:

GAME IN A WORD
Sale.

The hard-throwing lefty had a stellar outing and looked like his old, ace-like self.

ON THE BUMP
— Sale pitched around a two-out walk before tossing a 1-2-3 second inning. He hit Adam Engel in the third but didn’t allow him to advance past first base. Sale gave up his first hit, a two-out single to Yoan Moncada, who was caught stealing second to end the inning.

Sale ran into a bit of trouble in the fifth when he gave up a leadoff double to Jose Rondon before hitting his second batter of the game in Wellington Castillo. But he got out of the jam by responding with three consecutive strikeouts, bringing his game total to eight.

The southpaw came back out for the sixth and got two strikeouts to end his night with 10 K’s.

— Heath Hembree pitched a 1-2-3 seventh with two strikeouts.

— Colten Brewer surrendered the shutout in the eighth.

The right-hander led off the inning with a walk to Engel before getting Leury Garcia to strikeout. A walk to Tim Anderson led to Jose Abreu moving the runners with a flyout. James McCann singled to drive in Chicago’s first run to make it 6-1.

Brewer got out of the inning on a Moncada groundout.

— Josh Smith made his Red Sox debut in the ninth and closed out the game with a scoreless inning.

IN THE BATTER’S BOX
— Boston jumped out to a quick lead in the first with help from Devers.

J.D. Martinez doubled followed by a Xander Bogaerts single with two outs, bringing Devers to the dish. The third baseman jumped all over the first pitch he saw and took it deep over the center field wall for the 3-0 lead.

The inning would come to a close, but not without injury. Tzu-Wei Lin was thrown out trying to steal second base, but an awkward slide had his leg all twisted up. He remained down for several minutes before gingerly walking back to the dugout. Lin would leave the game with left knee soreness. Steve Pearce was called upon to play left while Andrew Benintendi slid over to center.

— Boston added some insurance in the fifth when Devers led off the frame with a single, paving the way for Chavis to absolutely obliterate the first pitch he saw 459 feet to left field to make it 5-0.

The Red Sox added another run when they loaded the bases by way of consecutive walks and a single. Mookie Betts drew a walk of his own to bring in a run for the 6-0 lead.

— Martinez led the Red Sox with three hits, while Bogaerts, Chavis, Devers and Benintendi all had two.

TWEET OF THE GAME
Kid’s got some power.

UP NEXT
The Red Sox continue their set with the White Sox on Saturday night when they send Eduardo Rodriguez to the mound. First pitch from Guaranteed Rate Field is set for 7:10 p.m. ET.