Red Sox starter Chris Sale wasn’t quite as dominant as he has typically been this season, but he racked up 10 strikeouts again and helped his team emerge with a 17-6 victory. Sale went six innings, yielding four runs on four hits, three walks, and a hit batter over six innings. He’s now sitting on a healthy 1.92 ERA on the season.
Sunday also marked Sale’s sixth consecutive start in which he struck out double-digit batters. It’s the second such streak of at least six games in his career. According to MLB’s Stat of the Day, Sale is one of four pitchers to have multiple streaks of six-plus games with 10 or more strikeouts, joining Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, and Nolan Ryan.
Sale’s previous streak lasted eight games between May 23 and June 30 in 2015. The only pitcher with a streak longer than eight games is Pedro Martinez, who struck out double-digit batters in 10 consecutive games between August 19, 1999 and April 9, 2000.
Unlike the David Price signing, the Red Sox are seeing immediate returns on their acquisition of Sale. The Red Sox sent Yoan Moncada, Michael Kopech, Victor Diaz, and Luis Alexander Basabe to the White Sox in December in return for Sale.
