Back in 1999, as he trudged towards the second of his three Cy Young awards, Pedro Martinez enjoyed a magical stretch, beginning in late August, when he notched 107 strikeouts over eight consecutive starts, recording at least 10 strikeouts in all eight outings.
On Tuesday night, nearly 16 years later, Chris Sale of the Chicago White Sox matched the newly elected Hall-of-Famer's seemingly impossible feat.
When Sale fanned Jhonny Peralta in the bottom of the sixth inning at Busch Stadium, the 26-year-old left-hander became just the second pitcher in history to tally double-digit strikeouts in eight straight games. He would go on to allow one run over eight masterful innings against the St. Louis Cardinals, fanning 12 – his sixth outing with at least a dozen strikeouts in his last seven starts – while allowing just one run in an eventual 2-1, extra-innings victory.
"It's just hard to keep finding adjectives for him," White Sox manager Robin Ventura said of Sale.
Since May 23, Sale boasts a 1.80 ERA with a remarkable 97:9 strikeout-to-walk ratio, though (somewhat inexplicably) his efforts have translated to just four wins for the White Sox.
| Date | Opp | IP | SO | R | BB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 23 | MIN | 8 | 10 | 4 | 1 |
| May 28 | BAL | 7.2 | 12 | 0 | 0 |
| June 3 | TEX | 7 | 13 | 0 | 2 |
| June 8 | HOU | 8 | 14 | 1 | 1 |
| June 14 | TBR | 6.2 | 12 | 2 | 3 |
| June 19 | TEX | 8 | 14 | 0 | 0 |
| June 24 | MIN | 6.2 | 10 | 6 | 1 |
| June 30 | STL | 8 | 12 | 1 | 1 |
Sale's 75 strikeouts this month, meanwhile, are the second-most ever recorded in June. Nolan Ryan, history's all-time strikeout leader, has held the record since fanning 87 over seven starts in June of 1977.
