White Sox: Chris Sale Falling Behind in Cy Young Award Race
White Sox ace victim of no run support on Sunday against Royals. With the season coming to a close, the all-star is starting to fall behind in the race for the Cy Young Award in the American League.
The Chicago White Sox were unable to win its series against the Royals on Sunday, but ace Chris Sale pitched another strong start. Unfortunately for Sale, he received no run support from the Sox offense as they were shutout in a 2-0 loss.
The loss for Sale was his eighth of the season and dropped his record to 15-8. Sale was able to lower his ERA to 3.03, good for second in the American League. However, with the Sox out of contention and losses piling up for Sale, the All-Star could find himself out of the Cy Young Award race if he can’t rack up victories.
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Despite having a low ERA, the two things going against Sale are his number of victories and the Sox being out of contention. Sale hasn’t had much luck in terms of victories in last seven starts, as he’s gone 1-3 with a 2.80 ERA. The Sox ace has been the victim of no run support in his last four starts. In those starts combined, the Sox offense scored six runs. On Sunday, the Sox offense couldn’t score any runs on the Royals and had just two hits.
Although Sale’s ERA is impressive, his 15-8 record sits behind pitchers on contending teams. Rick Porcello is 20-3 with a 3.21 ERA for the Red Sox. J.A. Happ is 18-4 with a 3.33 ERA for the Blue Jays. 2015 American League Cy Young Award winner Corey Kluber is 16-9 with a 3.05 ERA for the Indians.
Sale should certainly be in the conversation for the Cy Young Award, but the Sox offense continues to let him down. With 20 games remaining, Sale could have two to three starts left to improve his win totals. Sale can also increase his strikeouts over his remaining starts. The native of Lakeland, FL. is fourth in the AL with 205 strikeouts this season. Despite wanting to pitch to more contact to begin the season, Sale has started to miss more bats lately.
In his start on Sunday, Sale recorded 12 strikeouts against the Royals. Sale’s last seven starts have seen him record a total of 60 strikeouts. This is the fourth consecutive season Sale recorded more than 200 strikeouts for the Sox. This could work in Sale’s favor for Cy Young voting.
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Sale has tall task ahead of him if he wants to win the Cy Young award. The last player to win the award while pitching on a non-contending team was Felix Hernandez in 2010. Sale will certainly need more run support from the Sox offense if he wants to have a chance at improving his win totals. Hopefully, the Sox offense doesn’t start to resemble what they’ve done for Jose Quintana this season.