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Chicago White Sox pitcher Chris Sale nearly matched a single-game franchise record in Sunday’s 3-1 win over the Chicago Cubs, falling just one strikeout shy of the 16 recorded by Jack Harshman on July 25, 1954 against the Boston Red Sox, per ESPN Stats & Info.

In addition to matching his own personal best with 15 strikeouts, Sale allowed just one hit and two walks over seven scoreless innings, putting an end to the Cubs’ winning streak at nine games.

He finished the impressive outing with an MLB-best 208 strikeouts for the season, thus becoming the first White Sox pitcher since Hall of Famer Ed Walsh (1910-12) to record 200 or more strikeouts in three consecutive years, per ESPN Stats & Info.

Sale also became the fifth pitcher to record 15 strikeouts in a game this year, making 2015 the first season since 1998 in which five or more pitchers put up such a performance, per ESPN Stats & Info.

Now on pace for 293 strikeouts, the 26-year-old southpaw has a real shot to become the first pitcher since Randy Johnson in 2002 to record 300 or more strikeouts in a single season.

But despite the dominant strikeout numbers, Sale doesn’t appear to be the favorite for AL Cy Young honors, as his 3.32 ERA ranks just 12th in the Junior Circuit among all qualified starters.

Houston Astros pitcher Dallas Keuchel, who started the All-Star Game, has arguably emerged as the favorite for the award, ranking third in the AL in ERA (2.36), second in WHIP (1.01) and tied for first in wins (14).

Keuchel also benefits from playing for a likely playoff team, whereas Sale’s White Sox face an uphill battle just to stay in the wild-card race through September.

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Kansas City Royals pitcher Johnny Cueto made the most of his home debut on Monday night against the Detroit Tigers, becoming the first pitcher since Cliff Lee in 2009 to record shutouts for teams in both leagues in the same season, per MLB Stat of the Day.

Coming off a pair of mediocre road outings in his first two starts with his new team, Cueto finally showed why the Royals paid a hefty price to acquire him at the trade deadline, striking out eight Tigers over nine scoreless innings to lead the way to an easy 4-0 victory.

The former Cincinnati Red only faced four batters beyond the minimum 27, allowing four hits and no walks on 116 pitches to improve to 1-1 in a Royals uniform.

Joining Curt Schilling (2000), Andy Ashby (2000), Paul Byrd (1998) and Randy Johnson (1998), Cueto is just the fifth pitcher in the last 20 years—and first in the last 15 years—to toss a shutout in his home debut after switching teams midseason, per Elias Sports Bureau (h/t ESPN Stats & Info).

The 29-year-old righty will have a fantastic opportunity over the next few months, as he’ll get to showcase his talent on an excellent team that plays in a pitcher-friendly ballpark before hitting the free-agent market for the first time in his career.

As the ace of a pitching staff that otherwise lacks high-end talent, Cueto should have a very busy postseason if the Royals make a deep run.

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The New York Yankees were held scoreless by the Toronto Blue Jays pitching staff Saturday and Sunday, marking the first time in an MLB-record 2,665 games that the Bronx Bombers have been shut out in consecutive contests, per MLB Stat of the Day.

Blue Jays pitcher David Price tossed seven scoreless innings during Saturday’s 6-0 victory, then fellow Blue Jays pitcher Marco Estrada pitched 6.1 scoreless innings during Sunday’s 2-0 win.

The Jays also won the first game of the series Friday night, beating the Yankees 2-1 in 10 innings.

The Yankees have now gone 26 innings without scoring, as their only run during the three-game sweep came on first baseman Mark Teixeira’s home run in the second inning of Friday’s game.

Per ESPN Stats & Info, the Bombers previously hadn’t been shut out in consecutive games since May 1999, though they did go on to win 98 games and the World Series that season.

This weekend’s showing was far more harmful to the franchise, as the Blue Jays pulled within 1.5 games of the Yankees at the top of the American League East standings.

While the Blue Jays are clearly the primary threat, the Baltimore Orioles and Tampa Bay Rays are also within striking range at five and six games back, respectively.

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Seattle Mariners outfielder Nelson Cruz hit yet another home run in Tuesday’s 10-4 win over the Colorado Rockies, becoming just the fifth player in MLB history to homer in five straight games twice in the same season, per the Elias Sports Bureau (via ESPN Stats & Info).

The 35-year-old Cruz, who hit a solo blast off of Rockies reliever Scott Oberg in the seventh inning, joins an impressive list comprised of Chase Utley (2008), Barry Bonds (2001), Frank Thomas (1994) and Harmon Killebrew (1970).

In addition to hitting exactly one homer in each of his last five games, Cruz has 10 over his last 15 contests, as his hot streak predates the home run streak.

He previously homered in five straight games from April 11 to 15, with the streak accounting for six of his 10 home runs during the season’s first month.

Cruz continued the impressive slugging into May, but he then managed just one home run between May 28 and the end of June.

Although he’s done nothing to shed his reputation for streakiness, Cruz has still solidified himself as one of the top right-handed sluggers in baseball, posting a .323/.387/.597 batting line through 106 games, with 31 home runs and 67 RBI.

Making his stats even more impressive, he’s done all this while playing his home games at Safeco Field, which has long been one of MLB’s toughest stadiums for right-handed batters.

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Houston Astros outfielder Carlos Gomez hit the 100th home run of his career during Tuesday’s 4-3 loss to the Texas Rangers, blasting a solo shot over the left-center field wall off of Rangers pitcher Yovani Gallardo in the sixth inning, per MLB Milestones.

The long ball pulled the Astros within one run at 4-3, but neither team managed to cross the plate for the rest of the evening.

Tuesday’s home run was also Gomez’s first in an Astros uniform, although he does have eight hits (.348 batting average), four RBI and a stolen base in 23 at-bats since joining the team in a July 30 trade with the Milwaukee Brewers.

Gomez hit 87 of his 100 career home runs in a Milwaukee uniform, with 66 of those coming from 2012 to 2014.

During that three-year stretch, Gomez averaged 22 homers, 65.7 RBI, 82.3 runs and 37 stolen bases in 432 games, with a batting average of at least .260 in each season.

Per FanGraphs, he accumulated 16 wins above replacement (WAR) during that period, with 13 WAR between the 2013 and 2014 seasons alone.

Although he’s at just 1.9 WAR so far this season, Gomez can largely point to injuries as the explanation for his dip in production.

With his game largely built on his excellent speed, hip and hamstring injuries have limited the 29-year-old outfielder, particularly on the basepaths.

Coming off three consecutive seasons with 34 or more stolen bases, Gomez has converted just eight of his 14 attempts this year.

Of course, the Astros are still more than happy to have acquired him, especially because he’s under contract through 2016.

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Cleveland Indians pitcher Carlos Carrasco allowed just one hit over nine scoreless innings during Tuesday’s 2-0 win over the Los Angeles Angels, becoming the first American League pitcher since Bobby Witt in 1994 to throw nine innings and allow two or fewer hits in consecutive starts, per ESPN Stats & Info.

Despite striking out seven batters and surrendering just one single and one walk, Carrasco did not factor into the decision, as Tuesday’s game was tied 0-0 after nine innings.

Angels pitcher Matt Shoemaker also hurled a gem, striking out 10 Indians over six shutout innings before the Los Angeles bullpen took over and held Cleveland scoreless for another five frames.

The Indians finally broke through in the top of the 12th, plating the game’s only runs on a two-run homer from third baseman Giovanny Urshela.

Although he wasn’t able to improve his 11-8 record, Carrasco did drop his ERA to 3.76 and his WHIP to 1.09, with his strikeout-to-walk ratio bumping up to an excellent 5.25.

The 28-year-old Venezuelan ranks fifth in the American League in strikeouts, eighth in WHIP and is tied for fifth in wins, even though this is his first full MLB season working exclusively as a starter.

He’ll try to continue the impressive streak in his next outing, which is scheduled for Sunday against the Minnesota Twins at Progressive Field in Cleveland.

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New York Mets first baseman Lucas Duda stayed red-hot in Sunday’s 5-2 win over the Washington Nationals, becoming the first player in franchise history to hit nine home runs in the span of eight games, per Elias Sports Bureau (via ESPN Stats & Info).

Coming off a two-homer performance in Saturday’s 3-2 victory, Duda hit a two-run homer off Nationals pitcher Jordan Zimmermann in the third inning of Sunday’s game, stretching the Mets’ lead to 5-1 as they looked to close out a sweep.

The long ball capped off a three-homer third inning in which the Mets scored all five of their runs, with outfielder Curtis Granderson and second baseman Daniel Murphy also going deep.

Prior to Sunday, the Mets last hit three homers in an inning back in June 2007 when Carlos Delgado, David Wright and Paul Lo Duca went back-to-back-to-back in a game against the Philadelphia Phillies, per ESPN.com’s Adam Rubin.

As for Duda, he’s just the third player in the last 10 years to hit nine homers in a span of eight games, joining Jason Bay (2006) and Josh Hamilton (2012), per Elias (via MLB on ESPN Radio).

What was once a down season might now end up being his finest campaign, as the homer binge has boosted Duda‘s batting line from .237/.340/.414 on July 24 to .249/.348/.489 after Sunday’s game.

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Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Zack Greinke finished the first half of the season with a 1.39 ERA, the lowest mark for any pitcher with at least 15 starts since Bob Gibson (1.06), Luis Tiant (1.24) and Don Drysdale (1.37) all entered the All-Star break with better ERAs in 1968, per ESPN Stats & Info.

Named as the National League’s starting pitcher for Tuesday’s All-Star Game in Cincinnati, Greinke owns an 8-2 record, 0.84 WHIP and 106-20 strikeout-to-walk ratio through 123.1 innings (18 starts) to go along with his sterling ERA.

Although he hasn’t quite matched the dominant strikeout numbers posted by some of baseball’s other elite starters, the 31-year-old righty looks like the early favorite for National League Cy Young honors.

However, he could still face a challenge from Washington Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer, New York Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom and Pittsburgh Pirates pitchers Gerrit Cole and A.J. Burnett. Of course, it would never be wise to count out Dodgers teammate Clayton Kershaw, who enters the break with a 2.85 ERA that is modest by his own lofty standards.

Greinke‘s historic pre-break ERA would have been good for just fourth place in 1968, known widely in baseball history as “The Year of the Pitcher.”

Gibson set a still-standing modern record with his 1.12 ERA that season, contributing to significant rule changes in 1969 that restored some hope to big league batters.

Most notably, the mound was lowered from 15 inches to 10 inches, and the vertical limit of the strike zone was reduced to only cover the area from the batter’s armpits to the top of the knees.

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The Philadelphia Phillies set an unwanted record during the season’s first half, losing 62 games before the All-Star break for the first time in franchise history, per Sportsnet Stats.

Although there was no expectation of the team being competitive this season, the Phillies have arguably still been somewhat disappointing, as they’re in a league of their own when it comes to futility.

Sitting at 29-62 through 91 games, the Phillies have a miserable .319 winning percentage, putting them more than 100 percentage points below MLB‘s second-worst team, the 38-52 Milwaukee Brewers (.422).

The Phillies have scored a National League-worst 309 runs and allowed an MLB-high 468 runs. Only the Chicago White Sox have plated fewer runs, and even the Colorado Rockies—who play at Coors Field—have surrendered fewer.

The White Sox have MLB’s second-worst run differential at minus-73, while the Phillies have more than doubled the negative output, sitting at minus-160 heading into the second half.

They aren’t just the worst team this season, but possibly the worst team MLB has seen since the 2003 Detroit Tigers finished 43-119 for a .265 winning percentage.

And the franchise already has 14 100-loss seasons in its largely woeful history, having reached that mark in 1904, 1921, 1923, 1927, 1928, 1930, 1936, five consecutive seasons from 1938 to 1942, 1945 and 1961.

With the team presumably trying to trade the few veteran players it still has left, the Phillies are all but guaranteed to finish with baseball’s worst record and a 100-loss season.

If not for the strong performance of rookie third baseman Maikel Franco, it would truly be a lost season.

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After throwing just one complete game in the first 210 starts of his career, Washington Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer went the distance for a third time in his last four outings in Thursday’s 2-1 loss to the Atlanta Braves, per ESPN Stats & Info.

Having previously tossed complete-game shutouts against the Milwaukee Brewers on June 14 and Pittsburgh Pirates on June 20, Scherzer allowed two runs over 8.1 innings Tuesday night against the Braves.

He was a tough-luck loser in the game, giving up a walk-off RBI single to Braves outfielder Cameron Maybin in the bottom of the ninth inning.

A dominant starter since the beginning of 2013, Scherzer could typically be counted on for six or seven excellent innings during his time with the Detroit Tigers, but his strikeout-heavy profile made it hard to keep his pitch count low enough to finish off games.

A move to the National League seems to have helped him in that regard, and his statistics have somehow been more dominant than ever.

Through his first 16 starts with the Nationals, Scherzer owns a 9-6 record, 1.82 ERA, 0.78 WHIP and 139-to-14 strikeout-to-walk ratio over 118.2 innings.

Among qualified National League starters, he ranks first in WHIP and innings and second in ERA and strikeouts.

Scherzer has thus emerged as the early favorite for Cy Young honors, although Los Angeles Dodgers pitchers Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke, among others, figure to mount a strong challenge.

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