A few notable numbers as White Sox play out string

There's no need to report everything that's going on with the White Sox as they play out the string in a miserable 2023 season. But here are a few notable things that have happened recently:

• Mike Clevinger pitched all six innings of Sunday's rain-shortened 3-2 victory over the Boston Red Sox. The right-hander gave up two runs on five hits, and he neither struck out nor walked a batter. This is notable because it's the fifth straight start for Clevinger without a walk. He should get one more start before the season ends. The last time a Sox pitcher went six straight starts without a walk? That was LaMarr Hoyt in his 1983 Cy Young-winning season. Clevinger is 9-8 with a 3.40 ERA this year.
• I was talking baseball with some people at a party Saturday afternoon, and a Sox fan who is in his 70s asked me, "How many hit batters do they have this season? My whole life, I've never seen a pitching staff hit so many batters." I guessed, "More than 70," then went about the business of looking it up. Turns out, the Sox had hit 88 batters as of Saturday afternoon. Well, Clevinger hit two Boston batters on Sunday. That makes 90 hit batsmen, and yes, that is a new team record.
• Dylan Cease had perhaps his best outing of the season Saturday in a 1-0 victory over Boston. He went seven innings, allowing no runs on six hits. He struck out 11 and did not issue a walk. During this performance, Cease cleared the 200-strikeout mark for the third straight season. He has 207 strikeouts this year, after posting 226 strikeouts in 2021 and 227 strikeouts in 2022. Cease becomes only the third pitcher in Sox history to compile 200 or more strikeouts in three different years. The others are Chris Sale, who did it four times from 2013-16, and Ed Walsh, who holds the franchise record with five such years (1907-08, 1910-12).
• In that 1-0 victory, the winning run scored in the top of the ninth inning on Luis Robert Jr.'s 38th home run of the season. With six games to play, Robert still has an outside shot at reaching both 40 doubles and 40 home runs for the season -- he has 36 doubles. The All-Star center fielder also collected his 20th stolen base of the year in Sunday's win. Unfortunately, Robert slid awkwardly in the wet dirt and had to leave the game with right knee soreness. Hopefully, he'll be able to return to the lineup Tuesday against the Arizona Diamondbacks and continue his pursuit of the 40-homer mark.
• The Sox won two of three in Boston despite only scoring six runs in the three-game series. Man, this offense is sleepy. The Sox are 60-96. They will need a 3-3 homestand to avoid a 100-loss season. 

White Sox pitcher Lucas Giolito records 200th strikeout of the season

It's remarkable that right-hander Lucas Giolito has 14 wins in 26 starts this season, pitching for yet another terrible White Sox team.

Giolito's record dropped to 14-7 with a 3-1 loss to the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday night, but very little of the blame for this defeat falls on him.

Sure, Giolito failed to duplicate the three-hit shutout he tossed against the Twins on Aug. 21 in Minneapolis, but his line in this latest start was still quite good. He went six innings, allowing two earned runs on only four hits. He struck out nine and walked three.

Giolito did give up two home runs in the second inning, one on a high fastball to Marwin Gonzalez and the other on a hanging slider to Jonathan Schoop. However, two runs allowed over six innings is good enough to win a lot of nights -- just not this night.

The Sox offense managed six hits -- five of them singles -- against Minnesota starter Michael Pineda (10-5) and four Twins relievers. A solo home run by Tim Anderson, his 14th of the season, provided the only run the Sox could muster.

So, Giolito suffered the loss despite pitching well, but on the bright side, he added his name to a short list of Sox pitchers who have recorded 200 or more strikeouts in a season. His strikeout total for 2019 now stands at 203 after Tuesday night.

Here are the other Sox hurlers to achieve this milestone:

Ed Walsh (1907-08, 1910-12)
Gary Peters (1964, 1967)
Wilbur Wood (1971)
Tom Bradley (1972)
Alex Fernandez (1996)
Esteban Loaiza (2003)
Javier Vazquez (2007-08)
Chris Sale (2013-16)

Giolito's accomplishment is remarkable when you consider he had only 125 strikeouts last season in 173.1 innings. This season, he's at 203 strikeouts in 157.2 innings.

This is just the latest benchmark that shows Giolito is perhaps the most improved player in all of baseball in 2019. Can you think of another player in the game who has taken this big of a step forward? I can't.

Chris Sale closing in on White Sox franchise record for strikeouts

With the White Sox languishing at 59-66 in late August, it can be hard to manufacture much enthusiasm for the remaining 37 games of the season.

That said, Chris Sale's starts should remain appointment TV for Sox fans. Sale got the shaft from his teammates (again) Wednesday night, receiving a no-decision after firing seven shutout innings in Chicago's 3-0 loss to the Boston Red Sox.

Sale struck out seven Boston hitters Wednesday to increase his season total to a personal-best 229. (He struck out 226 during the 2013 season.) Why does that matter, you ask? Well, Sale is closing in a club record that has stood for more than a century.

Hall-of-Famer Ed Walsh holds the Sox record for strikeouts in a single season. He fanned 269 hitters in 1908; that's 107 years ago. Sale's 229 strikeouts this year stand as a modern-era record, and he needs just 41 more to set a new all-time franchise mark.

We'll assume the Sox will not push Sale too hard in September with the team out of the race, but it's reasonable to believe the ace left-hander will start about six of the remaining 37 games. Sale is averaging just more than nine strikeouts per start this season, so if he continues that pace for six more starts, he would end up with about 283 strikeouts. Walsh's record would fall.

As Sox fans, we have no hope of any team glory this year, so use the rest of this season to appreciate the individual greatness of Sale. This is a team record that nobody has come close to touching in our lifetimes. It's possible, maybe even likely, that it will be broken sometime in the next six weeks.