Chris Sale electrified the Fenway crowd as soon as he took the mound. He struck out the first five batters he faced, and seven of the first nine. Sale retired the first 13 Orioles and ended up issuing a walk to Chris Davis in the fifth - Baltimore's first baserunner - only because home plate umpire D.J. Reyburn did not call strike three on a 2-2 pitch that was in the strike zone.
Sale (8-3-2-2-11, 115) topped ten strikeouts for the fifth consecutive start, joining Pedro Martinez as the only pitchers in Red Sox history to do so (Pedro did it four times!