Chris Sale was at his very best — right down to his momentous last pitch — in another meaningful victory for the Boston Red Sox.
Sale struck out 13 to become the first AL pitcher in 18 years to reach the 300 mark, and the Red Sox clinched a playoff berth hours after beating the Baltimore Orioles 9-0 on Wednesday night.
Sale (17-7), who played for the La Crosse Loggers back in 2008, reached the milestone on his 111th and final pitch, a called third strike against Ryan Flaherty to end the eighth inning. The last AL pitcher to fan 300 batters in a season was Boston’s Pedro Martinez in 1999, when he set a club record with 313.
“Being here, and having that name thrown around, is special to me,” Sale said. “He’s one of the best ever to step on that mound. Being in the same sentence as him is pretty crazy to me.”
Thing is, the left-hander had no idea he was at 299 when the inning started.
“No, I didn’t,” Sale said. “I went out there and struck out the last guy and everyone started losing it. I knew I was close, but I didn’t know I needed just one more.”
Sale allowed four hits and walked none in matching his career high for wins. The 28-year-old reached double figures in strikeouts for the 18th time this season. Sale is the 14th pitcher in the so-called Live Ball Era (1920-present) to ring up 300 strikeouts in a season.
It was his 10th scoreless outing of the season, tying the team record held by Babe Ruth (1916) and Martinez (2000 and 2002).
“It was fun. I felt good tonight,” he said.
Sale faced a Baltimore lineup that was lacking two of its better hitters. Manny Machado was held out with an illness that manager Buck Showalter said the third baseman had been dealing with for nearly two weeks, and shortstop Tim Beckham was unavailable after having a wisdom tooth removed.
Not that it would have made much of a difference against Sale.
“He’s one of the best pitchers in the game and couple in the fact that we’re not really operating on all cylinders offensively, you end up with a shutout,” Showalter said.
Sale was 2-3 in 17 appearances for the Loggers in 2008. He struck out 74 in 53 innings that summer.