Fastball

Atlanta Braves Lefty Moves Up Niche List in Baseball History with Gem on Thursday

Chris Sale continues to help keep the Atlanta Braves afloat with his Cy Young caliber season.

Brady Farkas

Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Chris Sale (51) pitches against the Cincinnati Reds in the first inning at Great American Ball Park on Sept 19.
Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Chris Sale (51) pitches against the Cincinnati Reds in the first inning at Great American Ball Park on Sept 19. / Katie Stratman-Imagn Images
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The Atlanta Braves beat the Cincinnati Reds 15-3 on Thursday afternoon in Cincinnati. With the win, the Braves are now 83-70 on the season. They remain in contention for the third and final wild card spot in the National League, but they are 2.0 games back of the New York Mets.

Though there was plenty of run support, Braves starter Chris Sale continued to dominate on the mound. He went 5.0 innings, giving up just two earned runs on five hits. He struck out six.

The overwhelming favorite for the National League Cy Young Award, Sale is 18-3 this season with a 2.38 ERA. It's been a banner year for him, staying healthy for the first time since 2019. Furthermore, with Spencer Strider out for the season, he's kept the rotation afloat.

With his six-strikeout performance, Sale also moved up a fun list in interesting, niche baseball history.

Per @StatsCentre on social media:

Most career road strikeouts by a left handed pitcher:
2206- Randy Johnson
2000- Steve Carlton
1482- CC Sabathia
1354- Clayton Kershaw
1317- Frank Tanana
1313- Tom Glavine
1283- Cole Hamels
1236- Chris Sale (Via his 6 in this afternoon's @Braves game vs the Reds)
1234- Jon Lester

Sale has struck out 225 batters this season in 177.2 innings.

In the 14th year of his career with the Chicago White Sox, Boston Red Sox and Braves, he's now 138-83 with a 3.04 lifetime ERA.

He helped the Red Sox win the World Series in 2018 and will try to help Atlanta get to the playoffs this year so they can do the same.

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Brady Farkas
BRADY FARKAS

Brady Farkas is a baseball writer for Fastball on Sports Illustrated/FanNation and the host of 'The Payoff Pitch' podcast which can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Videos on baseball also posted to YouTube. Brady has spent nearly a decade in sports talk radio and is a graduate of Oswego State University. You can follow him on Twitter @WDEVRadioBrady. 

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