Levine: Chris Sale Proves Human In First Loss Of Season
By Bruce Levine--
CHICAGO (CBS) -- One of the hottest pitchers in baseball proved to be only human Tuesday night.
White Sox left-hander Chris Sale was torched for six runs, all earned, in just 3 1/3 innings, losing for the first time in 2016 as Chicago fell 6-2 to Cleveland at U.S. Cellular Field. When his poor outing was done, Sale went to the video room in an attempt to pick up something useful going forward.
"I wanted to get a feel for where I was at," Sale said of his infrequent visit to the video room. "I checked my mechanics and all of that. I saw some stuff and hopefully can build on that and learn."
Sale had won his first nine starts of the season and had pitched two complete games in succession before Tuesday's dud, in which he allowed seven hits, walked four and struck out seven.
"He was up there velocity wise tonight -- this was not his usual outcome," manager Robin Ventura said. "It seemed he was throwing harder than usual. His change-up was harder than it had been in the past. The separation between the fastball and change wasn't as good."
The White Sox's lead in the AL Central was cut to 1.5 games over the Indians. On their present homestand, Chicago is 3-6, with the final contest waiting Wednesday afternoon against Cleveland.
Sale put the burden for the loss completely on his own shoulders.
"The past doesn't matter," Sale said in reference to his perfect 9-0 start to the season. "It's about right now. Everything is about right now, today. Nine wins didn't get me anything tonight. I got to be better. We didn't lose. I lost. Hopefully we can build beyond that and win tomorrow."
The six earned runs that Sale allowed were half as many as he'd allowed in his first nine starts of the season.He never had his command Tuesday night.
"Just chalk it up as a bad night," Sale said when asked about his control. "I am not going to pinpoint this or that. I stunk. I was bad. I was terrible. It was embarrassing, quite honestly. It's tough -- you go out for only 3.1 (innings), you leave your team in a tough position, especially after doubleheader. That is what gets me the most. We played two yesterday. I had to be big for my guys tonight. I did the exact opposite."
The White Sox's first tailspin of the season continues, as they've lost 10 of their past 14 games.
"Right now it seems we are streaky," Ventura said. "It's a good sign for Jose (Abreu in going 3-of-4 on the evening). That is a good sign to see him swinging it the way he did. You would definitely want to see more runs, but seeing him get going would be a nice shot in the arm for us."
The Indians scored three runs in the third and fourth innings. White Sox catcher Alex Avila took partial blame for Sale's struggles.
"He had great stuff today," Avila said. "Sometimes you get away with mistakes, and sometimes you don't. Today Chris could not get in a good flow. They put up some great at-bats against them. They got big hits in a big situation against us. He was a little erratic today, but I probably would like back a few pitches that I called as well."
Bruce Levine covers the Cubs and White Sox for 670 The Score and CBSChicago.com. Follow him on Twitter @MLBBruceLevine.
