BOSTON _ Chris Sale has looked lost more nights than not this season, a pitcher struggling to summon the dominance he once possessed.
Thursday was not one of those nights.
This was a vintage performance from the Red Sox left-hander, one that should give both Sale and the club a healthy dose of encouragement going forward. His crackling fastball and mound presence were both on display against the Angels at Fenway Park, and this sort of effort could carry Sale and Boston into the stretch run.
Is the American League wild card race already over for the Red Sox? Even if you'd like to make that case, this version of Sale through 2020 and beyond will be necessary for Boston to return to contention. The milestones were many and the hits were few as Los Angeles succumbed, 3-0.
Sale retired 16 straight men between Shohei Ohtani's fluke double in the top of the first and Mike Trout's leadoff single in the top of the seventh. He pitched to just four batters out of the stretch and carved his way through eight innings on a mere 99 pitches. Brandon Workman took over in the ninth and worked a 1-2-3 frame to nail down his seventh save.
It was just the fourth scoreless outing for Sale in 24 starts this season and his third time completing eight innings or more. Los Angeles managed just those two hits without drawing a walk, and Sale struck out 13 � his third-most in a game this season. He seemed to gain strength as the game went on, throwing his hardest pitch of the season � 98.4 mph � to strike out Albert Pujols in the seventh.
Sale's seventh strikeout of the game, a fastball that caught a looking Luis Rengifo to end the fifth, was also his 200th of the season. He's reached that number in each of his three years with the Red Sox, only the third pitcher in club history to do so. Roger Clemens (eight) and Pedro Martinez (six) have some fresh company among the franchise elite.
Sale also became just the fifth pitcher in Major League Baseball history to reach as many as 200 strikeouts in seven straight seasons, his first four coming with the White Sox prior to his 2016 offseason trade to Boston. Clemens, Tom Seaver, Randy Johnson and Max Scherzer are also included on that list of true power arms.
Boston held the lead throughout after the bottom of the second. J.D. Martinez lined a leadoff single to right and Sam Travis ambushed a first-pitch fastball from Dillon Peters, driving it to deep center. His two-run homer gave the Red Sox a 2-0 cushion, one Sale never looked in any danger of conceding. Sandy Leon's solo shot over the Green Monster in the fifth tacked on additional unnecessary insurance.
