Sale fails to set record, but Sox top Buehrle, Jays
Monday night at U.S. Cellular Field, Chris Sale didn't strike out 10 or more hitters for the ninth straight start, which would have been a major-league record.
No big deal.
Before taking the mound against former teammate, mentor and Chicago White Sox legend Mark Buehrle, Sale was named to his fourth American League all-star team.
Shrug.
Winning is all that matters to Sale, and that's why the Sox' ace was in good spirits in the postgame clubhouse.
While he was limited to 6 strikeouts, Sale pitched his first complete game of the season and the White Sox rallied for 3 runs in the eighth inning against Buehrle and beat the Blue Jays 4-2.
"It was fun," Sale said of a lightning-quick game that ran 1 hour, 54 minutes. "Any time you go up against one of your old teammates, it's fun. It was fun to be able to get a quick one going. That's kind of the name of the game.
"What a way to pull from behind. It's a tough guy to do it against, a tough team to do it against, and our guys did it."
Delayed in Toronto's postgame clubhouse due to X-rays on his sore right ankle, Buehrle echoed Sale's sentiments about the game being fun.
"Yeah, it was a blast," Buehrle said. "Hopefully, we gave the fans what they came for. It was a quick game, I know everybody likes that, or most of the people like that. It's always fun pitching a game like this."
Buehrle always makes some interesting defensive plays, and in the fifth inning he kicked Carlos Sanchez' hard grounder to third baseman Josh Donaldson, who threw over to first base for the out.
Buehrle stayed in the game and also went the distance, but he was in some pain.
"It got me pretty good," he said. "It was a little sore when it first happened, pulled my pants leg up and there was a pretty good knot there, bigger than I thought was going to be there. I'm sure it'll be a little sore the next couple days, but I'll be fine."
Buehrle (9-5) - who gave up an RBI single to Jose Abreu followed by Melky Cabrera's 2-run double in the eighth inning - was a little surprised Sale didn't reach 10 or more strikeouts again.
"The stuff he has, he should dominate guys," Buehrle said. "If I had that, I feel like I'd strike out 20 every game. No, but he's outstanding. Everybody knew that coming into it. We knew it was going to be a low-scoring game and we got a couple runs there and gave us a chance to take the lead. But that's just what he is, he shuts guys down."
Sale (7-4) had only 1 strikeout through the first 3 innings, and the way the Jays' potent offense was attacking, you could tell early the record was not going to happen.
"Every time there's two strikes, everybody's making some noise," Sale said. "But it didn't work out. I'll take this outcome over that any day. Those guys rake. They came out swinging and they swing with purpose. They've got a lot of guys that put the bat on the ball.
"It's one of those things. It's cool; it's fine. We won the game and I'm not going to pout at all."
Sale could be the AL starter in next week's All-Star Game.
"It's awesome," he said. "I'm very appreciative of it. It's a great experience. It's always fun for myself and my family, getting everybody involved. It's always a good time."