Sale secures eighth 200-K season as Triple Crown race heats up

ATLANTA -- Chris Sale set a franchise record, secured another 200-strikeout season and strengthened his bids to win both a Triple Crown and the National League’s Cy Young Award on Tuesday night.

Other than that, it was just another day for the rejuvenated lefty who guided the Braves to a 3-0 win over the Rockies at Truist Park. His latest dominant outing helped Atlanta rebound from a rough weekend and strengthen its bid for a postseason berth.

“A lot of the things he’s doing is very special in my book,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “If you’re with him every day and you’re watching how he competes and what he’s done for us, it’s a Cy Young season.”

Sale set a franchise record as he tallied nine strikeouts over seven scoreless innings, becoming the first Braves pitcher since 1912 (when earned runs became an official National League statistic) to allow two or fewer earned runs in 15 consecutive starts. Lou Fette previously had the record with 14 such starts for the Boston Bees in 1939.

“I grew up watching him,” Braves center fielder Michael Harris II said. “He was nasty and he’s still nasty now.”

After losing three of four to the Phillies over the weekend, the Braves were happy to hand the ball to Sale, who now leads the Majors with a 2.46 ERA and 206 strikeouts. His NL-best 16 wins is tied with the Tigers’ Tarik Skubal for the big league lead.

Just 28 pitchers have ever won a Triple Crown, which requires a pitcher to lead his respective league in wins, strikeouts and ERA. The three most recent pitchers to do this were Shane Bieber (in the COVID-shortened 2020 season), Justin Verlander (2011) and Clayton Kershaw (2011).

“I think when you get home and the dust is settled, that's when you start appreciating some of these things and looking back on whatever it is,” Sale said. “I have a job to do and quite honestly, there’s 29 other teams that don’t give a damn about any of the strikeouts I’ve had all year. Whoever I’m facing five days from now, is coming for me. I don’t want to get lost in looking at something that really doesn’t matter right now.”

Focus and tenacity have never been an issue for Sale, whose third-inning strikeout of Drew Romo secured his eighth career 200-strikeout season. He is the 12th pitcher to reach this milestone this many times. The others are Nolan Ryan (15), Randy Johnson (13), Roger Clemens (12), Tom Seaver (10), Max Scherzer (9), Verlander (9), Pedro Martinez (9), Bob Gibson (9), Bert Blyleven (8), Steve Carlton (8) and Gaylord Perry (8).

Sale sits among these legends despite the fact injuries either sidelined or significantly limited him in each of the past four years; he is enjoying this great season after totaling just 151 innings from 2020-23.

Even with this missed time, Sale has notched the second-most 200-strikeouts seasons going back to 2012, his first season as a starting pitcher. Scherzer ranks first with nine.

“I’m happy with where I’m at,” Sale said. “I’m having fun playing baseball and we’re right where we need to be. We’ll try to get hot at the right time and make a push.”

Despite being weakened by a multitude of significant injuries, the Braves remain a half-game ahead of the Mets in the battle for the NL’s final Wild Card spot. They have relied on a rotation that has thrived despite the fact that Opening Day starter Spencer Strider made just one healthy start before suffering a season-ending elbow injury.

“[Sale] has been huge for us,” Snitker said. “When Spencer went down, we needed somebody to step up and he sure did. It’s been fun being around him. He’s a ballplayer’s ballplayer.”

Sale didn’t really sweat until Jorge Soler was unable to secure Ezequiel Tovar’s eventual triple before running into the right-field wall to begin the sixth. Soler’s defensive limitations already added four earned runs to the southpaw’s total over the past month. Without those runs, Sale’s ERA would be 2.24.

But Tovar’s leadoff triple didn’t faze Sale, who responded by notching two straight strikeouts. He then received some defensive assistance when Harris raced to the center-field wall to catch Michael Toglia’s long fly ball.

“The situations I’ve seen him get out of,” Snitker said, “it’s unbelievable to me. The guy is just rock solid.”