Sale strikes out 12 in near-perfect return from DL

Chris Sale made his return to the mound for the Boston Red Sox on Sunday after spending time on the disabled list with shoulder inflammation.

The result was 12 strikeouts and just one hit allowed against the Baltimore Orioles in five innings of work.

The dominating ace of the best team in baseball retired the first six hitters he faced before allowing a single to Renato Nunez in the third.

Aside from that, Sale was perfect in his return, with eight of his 12 strikeouts coming via swings and misses.

Over his past seven starts, the 29-year-old has posted a minuscule ERA of 0.20, which is the lowest by a Red Sox pitcher across seven starts since ERA became an official stat in 1913, according to MLB Stat of the Day.

Sale has also struck out 79, walked six, and allowed 22 hits in 44 innings across those seven starts.