Chris Sale ties Pedro Martinez's record with eighth straight game of double-digit K's

Turn-of-the-millennium Pedro Martinez wasn't just great. He was jaw-dropping, appointment-viewing, wait-what-am-I-looking-at great. From 1999-2001, he was the best pitcher on the planet, and arguably one of the best the game has ever seen. Seriously, in '99, he was striking out over 13 batters per nine innings (!!), peaking at an absurd league-record eight consecutive games with double-digit Ks. He was basically Aroldis Chapman reincarnated as a 5-foot-11 starter, and it was unlike anything in baseball history. 

Until Chris Sale, that is. As you may have heard, Sale has been showing no regard for batter welfare recently, and his most recent victim was the Cardinals in St. Louis on Tuesday. No one was spared. 

The lanky lefty went eight strong, giving up just one run while striking out 12 -- his eighth straight start with at least 10 Ks, tying Pedro in '99 for the MLB record and officially graduating from "great" to "historically awesome." To drive the point home, Sale, during the month of June, has been three times more likely to strike someone out than to give up a hit. No, really:

In the month of June, Sale has thrown 41 1/3 innings. He has struck out 72, walked eight and allowed 25 hits.

- Scott Merkin (@scottmerkin) July 1, 2015

At this rate, we should seriously start considering Justin Nicolino's "just bring a giant bat" idea just to level the playing field a bit.