Chris Sale Was Furious That He Couldn't Finish Off The Royals
BOSTON (CBS) -- Chris Sale absolutely dominated the Royals for 8.1 innings on Tuesday night in Kansas City, but from there on out it was a disaster - well, by Sale's standards, anyway.
The Red Sox ace was virtually unhittable for most of the night against the Royals, striking out 10 and allowing only a solo home run and a single through his first 8.1 innings. At one point, he retired 19 batters in a row.
But after Sale got through the first batter of the ninth inning, his bid for a complete game quickly unraveled. First he issued just his 19th walk of the season to second baseman Whit Merrifield. Then he left a slider out over the plate for right fielder Jorge Bonifacio, who homered deep to left-center. It was after a single by left fielder Brandon Moss that John Farrell decided to pull Sale from the game - but not before Sale got furious with himself over his failure to finish the job:
Sale explained to reporters after the game why he was so angry that he couldn't get the complete game, even though he ended up getting the win.
"I don't want to tell John [Farrell] I can do something that I can't get done," said Sale, via MLB.com. "I'll never settle. When you start settling, you get complacent. When you get complacent, you suck. That's not my style.
"You get over it, obviously, because we're still winning the game. Once that last out's recorded, we're all smiles."
Sale's continued refusal to accept anything less than excellence is part of what makes him one of the game's best pitchers. It's the exact mentality that any team would want in its ace. Despite the ninth-inning blemishes, it was yet another stellar performance for the potential All-Star starter.
