Unbeaten Sale helps White Sox hold off Angels
No major-league starting pitcher has ever gone undefeated over the course of a full season.
Chris Sale is going to lose a game at some point this season, right?
For as good as he is, Sale is bound have a bad outing, probably several.
But the ace left-hander has a 4-0 record following the Chicago White Sox's 2-1 win over the Los Angeles Angels Wednesday afternoon at U.S. Cellular Field. He's the first MLB pitcher to win four games in 2016.
And as the Sox's season begins to take shape — at 10-5, they're off to their best start since 2006 — Sale is starting to look invincible.
In past years, particularly 2015, Sale simply reared back and struck out opposing hitters. The problem with that strategy? Getting so many swings and misses and called strikes tends to ramp up the pitch count.
With a vastly improved defense this season, particularly Todd Frazier at third base, Austin Jackson in center field and Adam Eaton moving from center to right, the White Sox are actually good at catching the ball.
So, opposing hitters that don't want to be Sale strikeout casualties, that want to put the ball in play earlier in the count, they're being victimized by the Sox's new and improved defense.
“It's incredible,” Sale said of the Sox's revamped defense. “It saves runs, saves pitches more importantly. It's a big factor. Guys diving around, making plays, running stuff down in the outfield. I want to say my defense probably saved me at least an inning out there. Hats off to them.”
Sale was on the mound to start the eighth inning against Los Angeles, but he was pulled for Nate Jones after hitting leadoff man Kole Calhoun with a pitch.
In 7-plus innings, he allowed 1 unearned run on 2 hits while lowering his ERA to 1.80. Sale, who led the American League with 274 strikeouts last season, had only 3 against the Angels.
“He's going to get his strikeouts,” said catcher Alex Avila, who doubled and wound up scoring the deciding run in the fifth inning. “We're not worried about that. It's a matter of him being more efficient. He knows when to take off his fastball, and get back on it a little. Same thing with his breaking ball, throw it at two different speeds and at different angles.”
While it's still early Sale has looked like a different pitcher, and the White Sox have the look of a different team than the one that posted losing records in each of the past three seasons.
“We want to win ballgames,” said Tyler Saladino, who started at shortstop in place of Jimmy Rollins and gave the White Sox the early lead with a solo home run off Los Angeles starter Garrett Richards in the first inning. “That's all there is to it. Last year was what it was, but every single day we were still out there to win. It's just a little bit different of a group this year, and everybody wants to get after it every day.”
After beating the Angels for the second straight game, there were two different songs blasting at the same time in the postgame clubhouse.
“It's good,” Sale said. “It's the best start we've ever been off to since I've been here. I don't know about historically or anything like that, but it's fun. It's nice to come in here and listen to music, we've got the game going on and having fun. That's what this is all about, having fun and enjoying it.”