Impressed by Chris Sale’s performance from the bullpen, Nate Jones wasn’t too shabby, either.
Jones followed Sale’s 15-strikeout showing with three of his own to help the White Sox establish a franchise record with 18 on Sunday afternoon. The White Sox previous high was 17, established against the Minnesota Twins on Sept. 13, 2014.
“Watching it from afar it’s pretty awesome, it’s pretty unbelievable,” Jones said. “I think he had nine through four, and somebody said that in the bullpen and it was like ‘No chance.’ I hate to say it, but you kind of expect it from Sale, like it’s just like a normal outing. He’s that dominant and he does that well and we just didn’t realize it, but it was a tough act to follow. It was awesome to watch.”
Sale struck out the side in the first, fourth and seventh innings.
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With his pitch count at 116 after seven innings — “The best thing we did is we got his pitch count up enough to get him out of there,” Cubs manager Joe Maddon said — Sale exited and Jones took over.
Jones struck out pinch-hitters Kyle Schwarber and Chris Coghlan with Dexter Fowler sandwiched in between. Jones threw strikes on nine of 13 as mixed his slider and a curve in with a fastball that touched 99 mph.
MLB
The 18-strikeout showing is the most by a major league team in a nine-inning game since the Los Angeles Angels struck out 20 against Seattle on Sept. 25, 2012.
“Not bad,” catcher Tyler Flowers said. “Nate threw the heck out of the ball, too.”