White Sox's Chris Sale Sets Franchise Record for Double-Digit Strikeout Games

Chicago White Sox pitcher Chris Sale capped off an excellent season by recording a franchise-record 18th career double-digit strikeout game in last Wednesday's contest against the Detroit Tigers, per MLB Stat of the Day.

Sale had previously tied Ed Walsh for the record at 17 with a 13-strikeout performance against the same Detroit team Aug. 30.

This time around, Sale had a more modest strikeout total of 10, which he accumulated over six innings of one-run ball in a 6-1 White Sox loss.

The lefty reached another milestone Wednesday, recording his 200th strikeout of the season, despite tossing just 174.0 innings over 26 starts.

Per MLB Stat of the Day, Sale is the first White Sox lefty to reach the 200-strikeout mark in consecutive seasons, having fanned 226 batters last year.

After emerging as the team's unquestioned ace in 2012 and 2013, Sale took another step this season, recording career-best marks as a starter in ERA (2.07), WHIP (0.97), K/9 (10.76) and HR/9 (0.67)

Per FanGraphs.com, Sale ranked eighth among major league starters with 5.4 wins above replacement, joining Clayton Kershaw (7.2 WAR), Jordan Zimmermann (5.2 WAR) and Garrett Richards (4.3 WAR) as one of four pitchers in the top 20 to record fewer than 200 innings.