Sox ace Sale settles down, becomes baseball's first 7-game winner
Chicago White Sox ace Chris Sale became major-league baseball's first 7-game winner Saturday night - the hard way.
Facing a Twins team that gave him fits last season, it looked like history was going to repeat itself when Sale took the mound against Minnesota at U.S. Cellular Field.
"It was a very odd first inning for him, definitely," manager Robin Ventura said after the Sox beat the Twins 7-2.
How odd?
After retiring the first two Twins hitters he faced, Sale gave up a single to Miguel Sano. The Sox's ace appeared to catch a bit of a break when Trevor Plouffe followed with a ground-rule double, holding Sano at third base.
But the opening inning really started unraveling when Sale hit Byung Ho Park in the foot to load the bases and walked Oswaldo Arcia to force home Sano.
Sale then hit Jorge Polanco with another pitch to make it 2-0 Twins, and he appeared to lose his composure after receiving a new baseball from home-plate umpire Bill Miller and twice hitting himself in the side of the head with it.
"I don't know," Sale said. "When I get mad, I feel the need to hurt myself. I don't get it. I don't understand it. That's another thing, too. That's something I've got to get over. That's the immaturity part coming out and that's when the overthrowing happens and that's when I dug myself a hole.
"I've just got to quit being an idiot out there, trust in the process and rely on my guys, because I've got some good ones behind me."
To his credit, Sale did regain his composure after hitting Polanco, and he settled in after that.
While improving to 7-0, Sale pitched 7 innings and allowed 2 runs on 3 hits and 1 walk. The 27-year-old lefty also had 9 strikeouts.
"You guys are talking about 7-0, but my teammates got me here," Sale said. "They got through this one today. I didn't give (catcher Dioner) Navarro too much to work with. I had a good breaking ball today and that was about it. Fastball was all over the place, changeup wasn't there for the most part and he got me through that game and my guys won this game for us. I was just along for the ride."
Navarro made it a 2-1 game in the second inning with an RBI double off Twins starter Ervin Santana, and Todd Frazier tied the game in the third with a solo home run, snapping an 0-for-20 slump in the process.
The Sox took the lead for good in the fourth inning when Santana walked Austin Jackson with the bases loaded.
"One thing (Sale) does, he works fast so it keeps us into the game a lot more so we can get to balls or make those plays when we need them," said Frazier, who added an RBI double in the seventh inning. "So even though that first inning was a little weird, a little hectic, he came back, he settled down and we came through as hitters. We have to keep doing that."