NEW YORK -- Chris Sale became the major leagues’ first eight-game winner, working quickly and efficiently in a six-hitter that led the Chicago White Sox over the New York Yankees 7-1 Friday night.
Jimmy Rollins hit a two-run homer in the third inning off Luis Severino (0-6), who left one pitch later with soreness on the back of his right elbow and was sent to a hospital for an MRI.
Sale (8-0), the first White Sox pitcher to win his opening eight starts since Jon Garland in 2005, retired 15 consecutive batters from the fourth through the eighth innings. He struck out six and walked none.
Sale did not throw more than 15 pitches in an inning and tossed a season-low 99 pitches in all. New York’s only run scored on Chase Headley’s second-inning homer as Sale lowered his ERA to 1.67. The complete game was the 10th of Sale’s career and second this season. He has allowed six runs in his last six starts.
Overshadowed in Chicago by the Cubs and their big league-leading 26-8 start, the White Sox improved the AL’s top record to 24-12, their best after 36 games since 2006.
Severino, a 22-year-old right-hander who matched Minnesota’s Phil Hughes for the most losses in the major leagues, allowed Rollins’ homer into the right field second deck, which put Chicago ahead 7-1, then throw ball one to Jose Abreu. Yankees manager Joe Girardi went to the mound with head athletic trainer Steve Donohue, and Severino walked to the dugout as Nick Goody relieved.
Despite throwing a fastball at up to 98 mph, Severino allowed seven hits and four walks as his ERA rose to 7.46. He made his big league debut last Aug. 5 and went 5-3 with a 2.89 ERA in 11 starts.
Alex Avila’s run-scoring double, his first RBI in 33 at-bats this season, put Chicago ahead in a three-run third, when Abreu hit a two-run, two-out single. Adam Eaton made it 5-1 in the four-run fourth with a two-run, two-out double over center fielder Aaron Hicks, who did not sprint back quickly enough and allowed the ball to sail over him.
New York started just one left-handed hitter to combat the lefty Sale, Brett Gardner. Hicks singled to become the first hitter to reach against Sale leading off a game this year but was stranded. Gardner hit an opposite-field single to left in the second, and Mark Teixeira singled leading off the fourth, New York’s last baserunner until Starlin Castro’s leadoff single in the ninth. Teixeira then doubled with one out.