Pitching duels can be a lot of fun to watch. When you're on the wrong side of one, with the potential of getting swept, it can be frustrating. Phil Hughes dueled with Chris Sale tonight. Sale won, the White Sox beat the Yankees 2-1, and I doubt anyone is thinking about how much fun a pitcher's duel can be.
You could not ask for a better performance from Phil Hughes tonight. Well, you could if you wanted to. Hughes pitched a solid game, giving the Yankees what they usually need to win. He pitched seven innings, giving up five hits and two earned runs while striking out five and walking two. One of the runs was a homer by Alex Rios that bounced off the top of the fence and into the stands. It didn't though. Why would we get any favors tonight against Chris Sale, the White Sox best pitcher? I could get into how terrible the umping was tonight. Screw it.
Chris Sale was pretty untouchable tonight. He went 7.2 innings tonight, giving up three hits and one earned run while striking out thirteen and walking only one batter. You read that right. Sale struck out thirteen Yankees tonight. His earned run was courtesy of a Derek Jeter dinger. That is all the Yankees did against Sale tonight. With Chris Sale pitching for the White Sox, it's definitely easy to see why they are still in first place. Swept by the Royals and then they sweep us. Now that's baseball for you.
I feel like I "should" bring up the fact that the Rays are now only three games behind the Yankees in the standings. I did not want to bring it up for the same reason I just mentioned that the "swept then sweep" White Sox matter. It's baseball. The Rays will face the A's and the Yankees will head to Cleveland. CC Sabathia will go against Corey Kluber. I've never heard of this pitcher.