Sale hasn’t been charged with a loss since June 27.
Chris Sale allowed one run and struck out six over six innings, shutting down Shohei Ohtani in the process, for his major league-leading 17th win of the season as the Atlanta Braves beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 10-1 on Saturday night.
Ohtani, who had a strikeout and walk, has stalled in his quest to be the first player in MLB history to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases in a season, going 0 for 6 in his last two games since hitting his NL-best 47th home run on Wednesday against the Chicago Cubs. He has 48 steals.
“He’s a special player, and when he gets barrel to the ball it’s going to be hard,” Sale said. “With what he’s done this year, if he gets the ball in the air, it’s probably not going to be good for me, so I’m really just trying to throw swing and miss pitches from the first pitch of the game.”
Sale (17-3), who hasn’t been charged with a loss since June 27, became the first player in Braves franchise history to allow no more than two earned runs in 17 straight starts, passing Hall of Famer Greg Maddux’s previous record of 16 starts.
