Boston Red Sox: Chris Sale is showing the league who’s king of the mound
Boston Red Sox ace Chris Sale was dominant in the team’s 70th win of the season. The lefty threw six scoreless innings in the team’s 9-1 win over the Detroit Tigers.
A 35-minute rain delay had no impact on “Sale Day” at Comerica Park Sunday afternoon. In tossing six scoreless innings, Chris Sale took all the courage out of the Detroit Tigers bats to lead the Boston Red Sox to a 9-1 victory in the motor city.
In improving his record to 11-4 on the season, the dominant left hander continues to show why he is on track to win his first Cy Young Award. In allowing just two hits and three baserunners overall, Sale was in full command. The velocity was there, the confidence, and even the Red Sox offense finally showed up after the MLB All-Star break.
Add that all up, and you have a Tigers lineup who was swinging and missing the entire afternoon. You also have a pitcher who is feeling mighty good out there on the mound.
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"“I feel good,” Sale said following the game, via MLB.com. “I feel like a broken record sometimes. We scored, what, nine runs today? That obviously gives me a boost and gives our team a boost. We’re scoring a lot of runs in general, but obviously in my starts as well. You get a padded lead like that, you can just kind of dig in and just try to find that groove and keep going.”"
The team didn’t score a lot of runs the first two games. In fact, the team put up just one total run in the first two games. With the offense still waking up, Sale had to bring his best to the mound and he certainly did that.
With the scoreless outing, Sale has dipped his ERA to 2.13. More impressively, the intimidating lefty is 6-1 with an 0.84 ERA over his last eight starts and is reminding Red Sox manager Alex Cora a lot of another tall lefty who frustrated hitters over a decade ago.
"“I’ve been saying the last, what, month, that he’s reminding me a lot of Randy Johnson,” Cora said. “The thing with Randy, it looked like he was always grinding. With [Sale], it looks effortless right now.”"
Chris Sale in October
With the Boston Red Sox winning their 70th game and pretty much cruising towards the postseason, the team needs this Chris Sale to pitch with the same dominance and effortlessness as he is pitching with right now.
Rest will play a major role in that. With how Sale has basically grown a reputation of breaking down towards the end of the season, the emphasis is on Cora to find a way to keep the AL Cy Young frontrunner as fresh as possible. That will involve going with a six-man rotation, which will be tough with the amount of injuries the team has in the rotation.
That’s why obtaining another starting pitcher before the MLB Trade deadline is not out of the realm of possibilities. In any event, Sale is thrilled about getting extra rest down the stretch, which will only benefit a team thriving for another World Series championship.
"“I think it’s good,” Sale said. “Anytime you can get some rest, especially later on in the year, that’s kind of when the money jumps on your back. Anytime you can have an extra day and get a little fresher, it will be good.”"
If Sale continues to get the run support he got the last few outings, Alex Cora will also have the luxury of taking him out of games sooner. With the lineups the Houston Astros and New York Yankees have, the Red Sox will need their top pitchers to be as strong and fresh as possible.
Next: Boston Red Sox: 5 starting pitchers to target at the MLB Trade Deadline
And that all begins with the firepower of Chris Sale, who is showing the entire league who’s king of the mound.