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On Wednesday afternoon at Target Field in Minneapolis, three familiar events happened on that particular diamond. Chicago White Sox ace Chris Sale struck out a lot of people, he didn't get much run support, and the White Sox lost to the Twins. Again, these are all familiar events for the 2015 season, but Sale's moment was a little special.
As it turned out, that was the seventh straight game Sale struck out 10 or more batters. He's only the fourth pitcher to do that since 1900, and when the other three pitchers are Nolan Ryan, Pedro Martinez and Randy Johnson, then you know that he's in some truly elite company. So, it makes sense that Sale is the AL leader in strikeouts (129), the MLB leader in K/9 (12.18), and is tied for the AL lead in WAR (3.4) among pitchers, according to Fangraphs. It's looking like Sale is well on his way to having another excellent year on the mound.
However, for all the praise that Sale has rightfully earned, I'm sure he'd trade it for some wins. The other two familiar events have been a disturbing trend for the White Sox this season. They don't normally give Sale run support (Wednesday was the third straight game in which Sale only received one run of support), and they're 1-6 against the Twins in Minnesota. It's been a rough year for the White Sox, and it must be even rougher to know that an elite talent like Sale is currently toiling in obscurity for what is surely a lost cause in 2015. With that being said, I'm sure that Sale is going to keep on striking out tons of people and that he'll make sure that every fifth day of White Sox baseball is worth keeping an eye on.
- We've promised you vines and GIFs of guys getting hit in the beans, and we're delivering today. Poor Alcides Escobar.
- When perfect games are on the line, players tend to go above and beyond to help out their pitcher. Josh Donaldson was no different.
- The A's have a pretty intriguing piece of a puzzle in the form of Scott Kazmir. If the A's trade him, can they still make a run at the playoffs without him?
- The Giants have lost Norichika Aoki to a leg injury. Where do they go from here?
- Speaking of the Giants, Buster Posey is having a nice week. He hit a grand slam on Wednesday night, and it was his second granny of the week.
- For the first time since 2013, Franklin Gutierrez played for the Seattle Mariners. It's been a long road for ol' Guti.
- Cleveland manager Terry Francona has a problem: He's addicted to popsicles. We all have our vices.
- Cole Hamels may not want to go to Houston, but it might end up being his loss because the Astros are pretty good this season.
- Johnny Cueto is going to make some team very happy at or near the trade deadline. Not only will they be getting a very good pitcher, but they'll be getting an 80-grade Instagram account as well.