The month of July was kind to Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Chris Sale. He had a 0.36 ERA, his lowest by month all year, and struck out 44.8% of batters he faced, walked just 4.2%, and didn’t give up a single home run. He was about as dominant as it’s possible to get. And here’s the crazy part. He did all of that with a BABIP of .340 as opposed to the .277 he’s posted on the season to date. So he wasn’t even getting lucky with that ERA.
And then it gets even more nuts. Since the pitcher of the month award has started being handed out for both leagues, the only American League pitchers to win it in back-to-back months are Bret Saberhagen in 1989 (who Sean Penney interviewed recently), Pedro Martinez in 1999, Johan Santana in 2004, Dallas Keuchel in 2015, and Corey Kluber last season.