White Sox starter Chris Sale was cruising through his start against the Angels Saturday, but was left in a bit to long and fell apart in the seventh inning of a 6-5 loss.
Sale shut the Angels out for seven innings, in what was one of his best starts at that point. Unfortunately, cracks started showing late, as he allowed consecutive singles before closing out the seventh inning.
He went back out for the eighth, but the Angels had already figured him out. He allowed the first five runners to reach base, though one came on error. Unfortunately, that error opened the door to a bases-loaded situation with Mike Trout, who made Sale pay by taking him deep for a game-tying grand slam on Sale's 115th and final pitch.
Sale was still throwing hard late in the game, but was no longer fooling opposing hitters. He was charged with five runs -- four earned -- on seven hits and a walk in seven innings of work. Sale struck out six batters while throwing 80 of 115 pitches for strikes in the no-decision.
Sale's ERA rose to 2.06 in the game, though he remains unbeaten as a result of a no-decision. He will look to put together a more complete effort in his next outing, Thursday against the Tigers.