Chris Sale gave up one run and struck out six batters over six innings, effectively containing Shohei Ohtani, and earned his major league-leading 17th win of the season as the Atlanta Braves defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers 10-1 on Saturday night.
Ohtani, who had a strikeout and a walk, is struggling in his attempt to become the first player in MLB history to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases in a single season. He has gone 0 for 6 in his last two games after hitting his NL-best 47th home run on Wednesday against the Chicago Cubs. He has 48 steals.
“He’s a special player, and when he gets barrel to the ball it’s going to be hard,” Sale said. “With what he’s done this year, if he gets the ball in the air, it’s probably not going to be good for me, so I’m really just trying to throw swing and miss pitches from the first pitch of the game.”
Sale (17-3) has not lost a game since June 27. He set a Braves franchise record for allowing no more than two earned runs in 17 consecutive starts, surpassing Hall of Famer Greg Maddux’s previous record of 16 starts.
Sale also leads the NL in strikeouts this season with 219, surpassing Padres starter Dylan Cease.
Atlanta is now 14 games above .500, which is a season-high, and has moved into a tie with the Mets for the final NL wild-card spot. The Mets lost to the Phillies 6-4 on Saturday night.
“These last couple of nights, this is what we’ve expected from ourselves,” Sale said. “We knew what this series means and it’s been a good couple of games for us.”
Atlanta scored six runs in the sixth inning, including a bases-loaded double from Matt Olson and RBIs from Whit Merrifield and Michael Harris II.
Olson also started the scoring for Atlanta in the first inning with an RBI double that brought in Harris, who had reached base with a single. Olson ended the game with four RBIs on 2-of-4 hitting.
“When we hit like that, we’re capable of a lot,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “You just kind of get cautiously optimistic that we’re going to get on a run because we’re getting a lot from everybody again, which is really good.”
