Just Sale-ing right along
Lefty limits Indians to 1 run in 6⅔ innings in 1st big-league start
CLEVELAND — These White Sox are a thoughtful and generous lot.
For manager Robin Ventura’s first victory Saturday, Adam Dunn came through with a bottle of Dom Perignon. For 23-year-old left-hander Chris Sale’s first majorleague start Monday, Alejandro De Aza and A.J. Pierzynski handed him a three-run lead before he even took the mound.
‘‘Any time you jump right out of the gate with three runs, it brings energy,’’ said Sale, who allowed one runs and three hits, struck out five and walked two in 6⅔ innings. ‘‘Those first three runs set the tone for the rest of the game.’’
Sale, the 13th overall pick of the 2010 draft, cut his teeth in the majors with 71 relief innings last season. But his desire to be a starter, his exceptional fastball and slider and left-hander Mark Buehrle’s departure in free agency cleared the way for this night.
Sale also dusted off his changeup, which he didn’t use much as a reliever.
‘‘When he throws his stuff over the plate, it’s as good as anybody,’’ Pierzynski said. ‘‘It’s a matter of him harnessing it. He’s still pretty darn young.’’
De Aza opened the game by lining a pitch from Josh Tomlin into the right-field seats. After Brent Morel and Adam Dunn struck out, Paul Konerko singled up the middle before Pierzynski homered to right to give Sale a comfy cushion on a cool, breezy night. The early lead helped him to settle his nerves.
‘‘We talked about trying to get through the first inning because even [in an exhibition game last week] in Houston, he was a little too excited,’’ Pierzynski said.
It was a good thing De Aza and Pierzynski got to Tomlin in the first. Tomlin matched his career high of seven strikeouts when he fanned Gordon Beckham for the second time in the fifth. The Sox scored one more run — on a twoout single by Morel that drove in De Aza, who had doubled — before Tomlin’s five innings were up.
Morel’s fifth-inning hit ended an 0-for-10 start that featured six strikeouts in his first six at-bats as the No. 2 hitter. His liner nicked the top of first baseman Jose Lopez’s glove, causing the normally subdued Morel to pump his fists and smile in the direction of the visitors’ dugout on the first-base side.
‘‘I was happiest for Morel to get that big two-out hit after what he’s been through,’’ Pierzynski said. ‘‘That was huge.’’
Addison Reed and Matt Thornton each pitched two-thirds of an inning, and Hector Santiago yielded a leadoff homer to Lopez in the ninth before retiring the next three hitters — two on strikeouts — to earn his second save in as many opportunities. The Sox’ bullpen had been the only relief crew in the majors not to allow a run until Lopez’s shot.
‘‘I kind of shook it off and was like, ‘Yeah, I have to go back and finish the game,’ ’’ Santiago said.
Konerko’s milestones, meanwhile, continued to add up. His double in the seventh moved him past Luke Appling for second place in franchise history with 3,528 total bases. Only Frank Thomas has more.
But the night belonged to Sale, whose future as a starter looks bright.
‘‘He’s got more than a fastball, and that’s one of the reasons he’ll be able to go through the lineup more than a couple of times,’’ Ventura said. ‘‘He’s not just relying on his velocity. His breaking stuff is getting better.’’