Chris Sale was in vintage form Thursday night.
The Boston Red Sox ace struck out 13 and walked none in a 3-0 win over the Los Angeles Angels in a much-needed, and dominating bounce-back performance from a nightmare outing against the New York Yankees on Aug. 3.
In the start, Sale reached the 200-strikeout mark for the seventh consecutive season, joining some rare company in baseball, and Red Sox history.
Sale is the 15th pitcher ever with 7 seasons of 200+ Ks
— Alex Speier (@alexspeier) August 9, 2019
Chris Sale has now recorded 200+ strikeouts in 7 consecutive seasons (2013-19). He is 1 of only 15 pitchers ever with as many as 7 seasons of 200+ strikeouts. The only other pitchers with 3 seasons of 200+ Ks for the Red Sox are Roger Clemens (8) and Pedro Martinez (6).
— J.P. Long (@SoxNotes) August 9, 2019
But perhaps even more impressively, Sale needed just 99 pitches to get through eight innings, while allowing just two hits, marking one of the more impressive outings… ever.
Pitchers in MLB history, in a single game, with
IP ≥ 8
H ≤ 2
ER = 0
K ≥ 13
Pitches ≤ 1001. Chris Sale – 8/08/2019 vs LAA
END OF LIST
Sale
8.0 IP – 2 H – 0 ER – 0 BB – 13 K – Pitches 99— Boston Sports Info (@bostonsportsinf) August 9, 2019
It was his most efficient outing of the season, only throwing more than 15 pitches in two innings, and never throwing more than 17.
Inning By Inning:
Pitches for #RedSox Chris Sale tonight vs #Angels:
1st: 16
2nd: 9
3rd: 14
4th: 10
5th: 10
6th: 9
7th: 17
8th: 14— Red Sox Nation Stats (@RSNStats) August 9, 2019
He’s also climbing the ranks for strikeouts as a Red Sox pitcher, and is doing so with nearly half the innings pitched as everyone in front of him.
Chris Sale (751) now in 18th place in career K's as a Red Sox
Do yourself a favor. Look at this list and Sale's innings pitched compared to the rest
details pic.twitter.com/aOl1iwRLhh
— Boston Sports Info (@bostonsportsinf) August 9, 2019
Sale credited a number of tweaks he made in between starts with assistant pitching coach Brian Bannister, perhaps confirming the “mechanical fix,” that Alex Cora had been referring to earlier in the week.
One thing is for sure: with the Red Sox on the outside looking in of the American League playoff picture, more performances in the ballpark of this one from Sale certainly would be nice.
