Boston Red Sox' Chris Sale Does Something He's Almost Never Done Before
Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Chris Sale accomplished some personal history on Monday night against the Baltimore Orioles.
The lefty went five innings against the O's, surrendering nine hits and five earned runs to go along with one walk.
Sale did not record a strikeout in the start, marking only the second start of his career in which he failed to record one strikeout. It's the first time he's ever started a game and gone more than one inning without recording a strikeout.
Last year, he was hit by a line drive against the Yankees and had to leave after 2/3 of an inning. That was the only start of his career to not get a strikeout.
It's a major juxtaposition from a start last Wednesday in which Sale looked like vintage Sale. He struck out 11 batters over six innings in a dominant performance against the Minnesota Twins.
After leaving the game on Monday, Sale's current statline for the season reads as 1-1 with an 8.22 ERA in 23 innings.
For his career, he's 115-76 with a 3.10 ERA. One of the most dominant pitchers of his era, he's a seven-time all-star who has six different top-5 Cy Young finishes.
Unfortunately, injuries have taken a major toll on Sale in the last few years. He missed all of 2020 with Tommy John surgery and spent most of 2021 recovering. He had a health issue that made him miss the early portion of 2022 and then was hit by the line drive, broke a finger and missed the rest of the season.
All told, he had thrown just over 48 innings since 2019 prior to this season.
At the time of this posting, the Red Sox are down 5-4 in the top of the seventh inning.
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