Sale ties own MLB record with 8th straight 10-plus strikeout outing
Boston Red Sox ace Chris Sale re-wrote his name into baseball's history books Friday with a dominant start in Oakland, where he tied his own MLB record - which he shares with Hall-of-Famer Pedro Martinez - by recording double-digit strikeouts in his eighth straight outing.
Sale, now almost two months into his tenure with the Red Sox, allowed just two runs and fanned 10 over seven dominant innings against the Athletics, giving him a whopping 88 strikeouts over his last 58 2/3 innings (13.5 per nine) as well as his second streak of eight consecutive double-digit strikeout starts in the last three years. (Back in 2015, when he was still with the Chicago White Sox, Sale fanned at least 10 batters in eight straight outings from May 23 through June 30, a stretch that propelled him to his fourth of five career All-Star appearances and a fourth-place finish in American League Cy Young voting.)
Sale's last eight starts
| Date▼ | Opp | Rslt | SO | IP | R | GSc |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 20 | OAK | TBD | 10 | 7 | 2 | 72 |
| May 13 | TBR | W,6-3 | 12 | 7 | 3 | 71 |
| May 7 | MIN | W,17-6 | 10 | 6 | 4 | 55 |
| May 2 | BAL | W,5-2 | 11 | 8 | 2 | 77 |
| Apr 27 | NYY | L,0-3 | 10 | 8 | 3 | 66 |
| Apr 20 | TOR | W,4-1 | 13 | 8 | 0 | 86 |
| Apr 15 | TBR | W,2-1 | 12 | 7 | 1 | 76 |
| Apr 10 | DET | L,1-2 | 10 | 7.2 | 2 | 70 |
If Sale, who owns a 2.19 ERA this season, notches at least 10 strikeouts Thursday against the Texas Rangers at Fenway Park, the 28-year-old would be the first pitcher in history to do so in nine consecutive starts - something Martinez, a three-time Cy Young award winner, would welcome.
"Records are made to be broken, and I am hoping that he surpasses everything I did," Martinez told Sports Illustrated's Justin Barrasso earlier this month. "I'm not jealous of it. I would love to see more players like him, guys who really want to get better every day regardless of how good they already are."