Chris Sale Is Back
Photo Credit: CBS Sports
On Tuesday against the Colorado Rockies, Chris Sale put on an absolute clinic, to say the least. Chris Sale struck out a career high 17 batters in 7 innings pitched. He became the first pitcher to strike out 17 batters in 3 years, the first left handed pitcher to strike out 17 batters in 12 years and the first Red Sox pitcher to strike out 17 batters in 19 years. Oh yeah, and he set the record for most strikeouts in 7 innings or less.
Now of course the record for most strikeouts in a game is 20. That’s been done by three different pitchers in MLB history, Roger Clemens twice, Kerry Wood in his rookie season and Max Scherzer back in 2016. We didn’t get the chance to see if Chris Sale would have a shot at history as he happened to be at 108 pitches by the end of the 7th inning and Alex Cora decided to pull him. I’m was kind of torn between wanting to see MLB history and also protecting one of the Red Sox most valuable assets. But in the end, I don’t blame Cora for making the decision he did. But then again, the Red Sox bullpen would go on to give up 2 runs in the 8th inning so maybe he should have left Sale in.
But it is good to see Chris Sale trending back in the right direction. After a horrid start to the season where he gave up 4+ runs in 3 of his first 4 starts and lasted 4 innings or less twice. He had given up 17 runs in 18 innings pitched, so it wasn’t exactly the best start after signing his contract extension in the offseason. But in his last 5 starts since he’s only given up 7 total runs and has went 7 innings or more in 3 of those games. His strikeout totals are off the charts with performances of 10, 8, 10, 14, 17. That’s 59 strikeouts in his last 33 innings pitched. While Sale is still getting little run support with a 1-5 record, he is slowly bringing down his ERA where he currently sits with a 4.24. Homeruns are still an issue with Sale this season as he’s given up a total of 8. Granted 3 of those were in the first game of the season but he’s still given up a homerun in all but 3 of his 9 starts so far. To put that into context, he only gave up 11 homeruns all of last year, but if he can get that fixed then he’s going to be throwing scoreless 7 inning games as those seem to be the only way runs are scored against him. In the end, it appears Sale is on the right path and as a Sox fan I’m fully confident in him getting back to his CY Young self.
Thanny