Chris Sale’s dominance against Blue Jays continues

Chris Sale’s dominance against the Toronto Blue Jays continued Tuesday night, leading the Boston Red Sox to a 3-0 victory over their American League East rivals.

Boston Red Sox lefty Chris Sale seemed unaffected by his 7 earned run performance in Cleveland last week.  The ace bounced back to completely shut out the Toronto Blue Jays Tuesday night.

Sale’s dominance against the Jays is nothing new.  The “Stick Man” entered last night’s start having not allowed a single run through 2 starts against Toronto this season.

Following Tuesday night’s game, has now thrown a total of 35.0 innings against the division rivals without allowing a single run.   In those starts, he struck out 35 while surrendering just two walks. The numbers seem insane but they’re indeed correct.

Another milestone

Another insane stat for Sale was the newest milestone added to his resume.

Chris Sale became the fastest pitcher in baseball history to reach the 1,500 strikeout mark in just 1,289.2 innings pitched. The record was previously held by Kerry Wood, who did so pitching 1,303.0 innings.

In his 27 starts this season, Sale has shutout his opponent 8 times.

He now leads baseball in strikeouts (264), double-digit strikeout outings (17), and the American League in wins with 15. A few of the various attributes in which Sale carries on in his Cy Young Award campaign this season.

A campaign which has included only 1 notable flaw, Sale’s recent track record against the Cleveland Indians.

Unfortunately for Chris Sale and the Red Sox, they will not be facing the Toronto Blue Jays in October for playoff baseball.

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Much like last year, had the season ended today, Boston would find themselves playing the Indians in the American League Division Series.

Now in Sale’s defense it’s only been a pair of starts in an MVP caliber season, however match ups are crucial if in any sport, in baseball, and if at anytime, in the postseason.

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In the case of the Cleveland Indians, the match ups remain to their advantage.

We are all aware of Sale’s 14.63 ERA through his 2 starts this season against Cleveland in which he’s allowed 14 runs off 15 hits total.

However there are even more notable match ups, deeper in the Indians lineup that certainly should be noted, heading to the end of the season.

The Cleveland Indians possess a strong offensive starting lineup, one which contains a number of offensive contributors who have a pleasant history at the plate with Sale on the mound.

Here are the top 4:

• 4. Carlos Santana- .303 avg, 13/43, 2 HRs, 1 2B, 11 RBIs
• 3. Edwin Encarnacion- .375 avg, 6/16, 2 HRs, 4 RBIs
• 2. Jose Ramirez- .412 avg, 7/17, 1 2B, 1 RBI
• 1. Francisco Lindor- .474 avg, 9/19, 1 HR, 1 2B, 2 RBIs

Now there are plenty of positive take aways regarding Sale’s history against the Cleveland Indians, such as Austin Jackson’s .057 career batting average through 35 plate appearances. Or even his 12 strikeouts against Michael Brantley who hits .182 against Sale in his career.

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However these setbacks when Sale takes the ball against the tribe should certainly be monitored and remain on his radar as the season ends, heading into the postseason.

Until then we can only sit back and witness Sale’s which will hopefully help lead Boston to a 2nd consecutive American League East Division clinch in the coming weeks.