White Sox ace Chris Sale is a strikeout machine. After fanning 15 batters against the Cubs last Sunday, the southpaw struck out 14 batters over seven innings last night as part of an 11-4 win over the Mariners.
Sale held the Mariners scoreless over the first six innings before giving up a three-run homer to Mark Trumbo in the seventh. It was the lone blemish in another dominating outing. He allowed just four hits and one walk while amassing 22 swinging strikes.
Sale now has 12 double-digit strikeout games in his 24 starts this season. He leads the majors with 222 strikeouts over 164 1/3 innings. He projects to get around eight more starts this season, so he still has a chance at 300 strikeouts. No pitcher has reached 300 strikeouts in a season since Randy Johnson (334) and Curt Schilling (316) each got there in 2002 while pitching for the Diamondbacks.