Sale secures eighth 200-K season amid Triple Crown race
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.
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 NL stat) 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.
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).
Sale’s third-inning strikeout of Drew Romo secured his eighth career 200-strikeout season, becoming just the 12th pitcher to reach the milestone eight 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.