Sale back on DL after one start
Boston returned ace lefty Chris Sale to the 10-day disabled list Saturday after just one healthy start. He was on the DL earlier this month with mild left shoulder inflammation.
Last Sunday, he was activated and pitched against the Orioles and struck out 12 in five scoreless innings, which extended his scoreless innings streak to 28. He is 12-4 with an AL-leading 1.97 ERA and 6-0 with a 0.20 ERA in his last seven starts.
“It’s definitely less than it was last time,” said Sale, 29. “It didn’t bounce back, wasn’t really responding the way we wanted it to. Given kind of where we are, it was kind of right call to give it some rest and stay on top of it. You don’t want to be playing catch-up during a time like this.”
Indians retire Thome’s number
The Indians retired Hall of Famer Jim Thome’s No. 25 in a pregame ceremony. Thome belted 337 of his 612 homers during two stints with the Indians.
“To have my jersey retired gives me the chills,” Thome said. “To see my number hanging in the rafters in the company of Bob Feller, Lou Boudreau, Jackie Robinson, Mel Harder, Larry Doby, Earl Averill, Bob Lemon and Frank Robinson, I don’t really know what to say.’’
Thome was honored on Aug. 11 by the White Sox and on July 17 by the Phillies.
On the field
Trevor Cahill (5-2) allowed only an infield single in seven scoreless innings to improve to 4-0 in his last six starts in the Athletics’ 7-1 victory against the visiting Astros. Cahill has won 10 decisions in a row at the Coliseum. The A’s, who were 10 games back on July 10, moved into a tie with the Astros for the AL West division lead. The A’s (74-49) matched their best record after 123 games since 1992 and are 25 games over .500 for the first time since Aug. 14, 2014. They’re now 15-1-2 over their previous 18 series dating to June 15. The Astros have lost seven of their last eight games and 12 of 19.
◆ Jacob deGrom pitched his first complete game of the season and lowered his major league-leading ERA to 1.71 in the Mets’ 3-1 victory against the host Phillies. DeGrom pulled within two starts of Dwight Gooden’s club record with his 22nd consecutive start allowing three runs or less. He had nine strikeouts, giving him 204 on the season.
◆ Marcell Ozuna homered and Miles Mikolas tossed six effective innings to push the Cardinals into second place in the NL Central and into the second wild-card spot with a 7-2 victory over the visiting Brewers. The Cardinals have won 10 of their last 11 games.