Braves' Chris Sale Makes More History With 10 Strikeouts Wednesday

Rain couldn't stop Atlanta Braves left-hander Chris Sale from continuing to move up the all-time strikeouts list.

In six innings, Sale posted 10 punchouts Wednesday against the Arizona Diamondbacks, which moved Sale into 39th place on the MLB's all-time strikeouts list. The left-hander struck out 10 of the 25 batters he faced after a one hour and six minute rain delay.

Sale moved past Christy Matthewson, who finished his career with 2,507 strikeouts, on the all-time list.

Last Thursday, Sale posted his 2,500th career punchout in the major leagues. Reaching the milestone in only 2,026 innings, Sale became the fastest pitcher to strike out 2,500 hitters in MLB history.

“They are throwing out every ball it seems now because he’s surpassing somebody," Braves manager Brian Snitker said of Sale prior to Wednesday's game. "You like seeing that because you know how much the guy loves the game and how dedicated he is to it.

The performance Wednesday was Sale's third double-digit strikeout game this season. He has 90 such games in his career, which is ranked eighth-most all time.

"It’s been a neat thing for me to get to know him and be with him every day, seeing how dedicated he is and how hard he works and how consistent he is, how much he loves to compete," Snitker added. "Everything about the game.

"He’s a fan of the game.”

Of Sale's 10 strikeouts Wednesday, seven were against his slider. Nine of the punchouts were of the swinging variety while just one was looking.

Sale led the National League in strikeouts with 225 last season, which was his first with the Braves. The left-hander finished first in the American League with 274 strikeouts while pitching for the Chicago White Sox in 2015 and with 308 punchouts with the Boston Red Sox during 2017.

Sale has averaged more than 11 strikeouts per nine innings each of the past two seasons. He remained above that average this season after Wednesday's outing as well.

In addition to the strikeouts, though, the left-hander struggled a little with his control, walking four batters and hitting another versus the Diamondbacks. One of those walks came around to score.

Although it was the only run Sale yielded, he exited the game trailing 1-0.

The Braves offense had one hit through six innings Wednesday night. Atlanta entered the game having lost nine of its past 12 games.

Next on the strikeouts list for Sale to pass is right-hander A.J. Burnett. Sale trails Burnett by only three strikeouts.