NEW YORK — Chris Sale is one of the best pitchers in baseball and has been for a while. He led the American League in complete games in 2013, in ERA+ in 2014 and in FIP in 2015. In all of baseball, only Clayton Kershaw has a higher strikeout rate since the start of the 2014 season.
Sale’s status as a Cy Young contender was not going to change Friday whether he pitched a perfect game or gave up 20 runs. What was on the line for Sale was the continued pursuit of history.
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In his eighth start of the season, Sale recorded his eighth win, working all nine innings in a game that was over, for all intents and purposes, after the White Sox put up seven runs in 2 1/3 innings against Yankees starter Luis Severino.