Chris Sale off to historic start for White Sox

Chris Sale is first Chicago White Sox pitcher in 97 years to go 9-0 in first nine starts

What Chris Sale is doing right now hasn’t been seen in baseball in nearly 10 years, and hasn’t been seen on the south side of Chicago in almost 100 years.

With his dominant complete game, no walk, four hit performance Thursday night, Sale became the first pitcher since Arizona Diamondback pitcher Brandon Webb in 2008 to win his first nine starts of the season.

The last White Sox pitcher to start 9-0 in nine starts was Eddie Cicotte, who won his first 12 starts in 1919, but was later banned from baseball for his part in ‘Black Sox’ World Series fixing games scandal later that year.

Sale, who already has three complete games and one shutout this season, also is just a fraction behind teammate Jose Quintana (1.54) with a spectacular 1.58 ERA, which is good for first and second in the American League. Sale is first in innings pitched (68.1), first in WHIP (0.72) and second in strikeouts with 62.

Amazingly, Sale’s three complete games is more than every other team in the baseball except for the San Francisco Giants, who also have three.

Sale was low key after the win: “I just try to go out and do my job every fifth day,” Sale said. “That’s all I’m trying to do. 9-0 is cool, it is. I enjoy it. I enjoyed snapping the skid we were in even more so than that.”

With the win, The White Sox moved 2.5 games ahead of the Cleveland Indians in the American League Central, and are in a statistical tie with the Red Sox and Orioles for the best record in the A.L., despite dropping four in a row before Sale’s gem.

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