Sale near flawless vs. Cubs -- even when forgetting number of outs!

ATLANTA -- Chris Sale strengthened his Hall of Fame resume and had no choice but to laugh about the inconsequential mental lapse he experienced while facing the Cubs on Thursday night at Truist Park.

Sale recorded eight strikeouts while allowing just one unearned run over six innings. The one strikeout his teammates won’t let him forget was a punchout of Miguel Amaya to end the top of the fourth. After Amaya swung through strike three with a runner on first base, the 2024 NL Cy Young Award winner waited for catcher Drake Baldwin to throw the ball back to him.

Knowing it was the third out, Baldwin instead threw the ball to first baseman Matt Olson. Sale then excitedly pointed toward first base to alert Olson that Michael Busch was off the bag.

When Sale quickly realized the third out had been recorded, he used his left index finger to raise the brim of his cap before lightheartedly turning it sideways.

Minus briefly forgetting how many outs there were, Sale was once again nearly flawless. The lone run tallied against him came after Ha-Seong Kim made an errant toss to second base while attempting to turn a double play in the sixth. The miscue put runners on the corners, allowing Ian Happ to score on Matt Shaw’s fielder’s choice.

Sale ranks ninth in the Majors with a 1.96 ERA. The 37-year-old hurler has allowed two earned runs or fewer while pitching at least six innings in eight of his nine starts.

Sale has 151 wins with a 2.98 ERA and 2,643 strikeouts over his 16-year career. He is one of nine pitchers in MLB history to have collected at least 150 wins and at least 2,500 strikeouts with a sub-3.00 ERA. The others are Tom Seaver, Christy Mathewson, Walter Johnson, Pedro Martínez, Clayton Kershaw, Bob Gibson, Cy Young and Tim Keefe. Kershaw and Sale are the only members of this group not yet elected to the Hall of Fame; Kershaw will be on the ballot for the first time in 2031.