Ventura says dominant Sale pitching ‘smarter’

NEW YORK — Chris Sale became the fourth White Sox starter in franchise history to win each of his first eight starts in a season, joining Eddie Cicotte (12, 1919), John Whitehead (eight, 1935) and Jon Garland (eight, 2005) with Friday’s complete-game effort in a 7-1 win against the Yankees.

Sale also joined Ed Lopat (1951), Sal Maglie (1952), Fernando Valenzuela (1981) and Pedro Martinez (1997) as the only pitchers since 1951 to win their first eight starts with a sub-2.00 ERA, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. The scary factor for the opposition, as if facing the four-time All-Star wasn’t challenging enough, is that Sale’s dominance should hold strong behind his new economical mound style.

“It’s just different because his confidence level, I guess it’s more of a relaxed confidence,” said White Sox manager Robin Ventura of Sale on Sunday. “He’s a competitor. He’s out there with that same fire, but he’s also smarter about how he goes about it. I don’t think he’s trying to strike everybody out from the first pitch of the game until the last pitch.

“He’s a little more confident in pitching to contact. Somebody …

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