Chris Sale outlasts Mark Buehrle for complete game win
Monday night was a wonderful night of baseball between the Chicago White Sox and the Toronto Blue Jays, or shall I say Chris Sale vs. Mark Buehrle.
Sale was the winning pitcher at U.S. Cellular Field in the game between the present and past aces of the rotation, as Sale gained his first complete game win of the 2015 season in a 4-2 White Sox win. The head-to-head matchup lasted 1 hour and 54 minutes.
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The newly minted four-time All-Star, Sale allowed two solo home runs, but other than that he was still throwing in the 90s when the ninth inning rolled around, finishing with six strikeouts and coming up short in his bid to become the first player in MLB history to have nine straight starts with 10 or more strikeouts.
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Even with the streak over, Sale allowed just six hits and walked none. His ERA fell to 2.80 on the season.
His counterpart Buehrle was his old (or new) self once he toed the rubber of the U.S. Cellular Field mound, his former home mound for 12 seasons during his great tenure as a White Sox legend. While with the White Sox from 2000-11, Buehrle won a World Series, pitched a no-hitter and had a perfect game to go with his 161 wins and 1,396 strikeouts as a member of the “Good Guys.”
As for Monday, Buehrle (who is in his third season with the Blue Jays) went eight innings, where he allowed four runs, none earned. He also gave up nine hits and walked none, while also tallying two strikeouts in what was his fifth loss of the season, falling to 9-5 overall with a 3.38 ERA.
Jul 6, 2015; Chicago, IL, USA; Toronto Blue Jays starting pitcher Mark Buehrle (56) pitches during the first inning against the Chicago White Sox at U.S Cellular Field. Mandatory Credit: Caylor Arnold-USA TODAY Sports
Chicago scored runs with one in the fourth and three more in the bottom of the eighth, with two of those runs off a hit by Melky Cabrera, ultimately putting the team ahead for good.
This game was everything it was being billed to be and even more because I didn’t think either pitcher could pitch a combined 17 innings with two of the six runs being earned. It was tough wanting to see both pitchers do well, because almost every White Sox fan is a fan of both of the pitchers on Monday, and to this day, it is still tough watching Buehrle in any uniform other than a White Sox one.
Buehrle put on a retro performance, and Sale continued his dominating ways for the season. Fans of both pitchers and the pitchers themselves should be proud of what they accomplished in this classic duel.
This was a great night of baseball.
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