Hey, Chris Sale, no pressure.
All the White Sox asked of their ace Wednesday was to win a series for them, something they hadn’t done at home since early May and something they had done only once in their previous 10 series.
It was a remarkable into-June swoon for a team that had built a 23-10 record and a six-game lead in the American League Central after their first 33 games. A flip-sided 10 wins and 23 losses later, they sit at 33-33 after a 5-3 victory over the Tigers.
Kind of like two seasons in one.
“It’s crazy,’’ third baseman Todd Frazier said.
So where will the Sox go from here, after a 5-3 victory and series win over the Detroit Tigers that sends them on a seven-game road trip through Cleveland and Boston beginning Friday?
“If we knew the answer to that you guys would be making a lot of money,’’ said Frazier, who drove in the go-ahead run with a deep sacrifice fly in the seventh inning. “You just can’t explain it. It could be Tim Anderson coming in here and rejuvenating our team or Chris Sale doing what he had to do today
“Just keep on winning, keep on rolling.’’
Sale, who rolled to a 9-0 start with a 1.58 ERA over his first nine outings was 1-2 with a 6.75 ERA over his previous four. The Tigers blitzed him for four consecutive hits in two-strike counts in the third, including Jose Iglesias’ home run in a startling three-run third after the Sox had given him a 1-0 lead.
“I tried to keep my emotions in check, and there was a lot of ballgame left,’’ Sale said.
Sale (11-2, 2.94 ERA) recovered with four scoreless innings and became the majors’ first 11-game winner. Sale said he had been carrying on about his teammates’ character to new teammate James Shields, seated at the locker next to his.
“You dig your guys in a hole,’’ Sale said. “Not only do they come back and get you out of it, but they get you a win as well.’’
“There are some things you can’t evaluate and I think that’s one of them. Those guys coming up big for me and the team tonight. It’s huge, especially taking the series before we go on the road. Hopefully that gives us the boost we need.’’
The Sox chipped away at right-hander Mike Pelfrey with single runs in the first, fourth and fifth innings to tie it up. Anderson, clicking in the leadoff spot with Adam Eaton batting second, singled and scored on Melky Cabrera’s sacrifice fly in the first and tripled and scored the tying run on Eaton’s groundout in the fifth. Anderson singled to lead off the seventh, went to third on Eaton’s ground-rule double and scored the go-ahead run on Frazier’s fly ball.
Sale threw 119 pitches (including an intentional walk to Miguel Cabrera) over seven innings, one pitch short of his season high May 7 against the Twins, and retired 13 of the last 15 batters he faced. He struck out seven and gave up six hits.
Sale passed former left-handers Gary Peters and John Danks on the Sox’ all-time strikeout list, a notable achievement for a 27-year-old. With 2,104, he’s sixth in club history.
Nate Jones pitched a perfect eighth and David Robertson put two runners on in the ninth before closing it out for his 16th save.
After all they’ve been through, the Sox find themselves bunched up with the leaders in their division.
“To get a series win is nice,’’ manager Robin Ventura said. “With Chris going, you want to win that one going into the off day [Thursday]. We’ve got our work cut out for us – we’ve got to keep grinding.’’
