Starting pitcher Chris Sale dominated again for the Atlanta Braves in an 11-3 win over the Los Angeles Angels to even the weekend series.

Sale threw six innings with two runs, allowed six hits and two walks, and struck out ten batters.

While Sale has been working toward his Cy Young title all season, he has now moved toward the Triple Crown. He currently leads the National League in wins (14), ERA (2.62) and strikeouts (187).

That means two Braves players are in the hunt, with Marcell Ozuna aiming for the Triple Crown in hitting.

Look, wins have lost a lot of their importance in recent years, but the Triple Crown is still a rarity and would bolster his Cy Young Award prospects.

If he wins the Triple Crown, he would be the first since Cleveland starter Shane Bieber won it in the COVID-shortened 2020 season. The last winners in a 162-game season were Clayton Kershaw and Justin Verlander in 2011, each of whom won their respective leagues’ Cy Young Awards in the same season.

For even more fun, he was the first Braves pitcher to accomplish this feat, John Clarkson in 1889 when the team was still called the Boston Beaneaters. So Sale was the first to do it since the team adopted the Braves nickname in 1912. No one has done it in the bee years1936 to 1940, so the reference to this name change is irrelevant.

Although this is a rare feat, it occurs more often than the Triple Crown. Since 1967, a hitter has taken home the Triple Crown compared to 11 pitchers.

But that never stopped voters from giving credit where it was due. All 11 of those Triple Crown winners won the Cy Young in the same season, so if Sale makes history, his first Cy Young would be assured.

Check in at Ozuna

Ozuna won the game early in Anaheim with a three-run hit in the third inning to give the Braves a 4-0 lead. With that, Ozuna hit his 35th home run of the year, putting him just three home runs behind Shohei Ohtani for the National League lead.

Those three RBIs extended his lead in that category to 93. His three-hit game boosted his average to .307, putting him a single point behind Luis Araez’s league-leading average of .308.

It would be remarkable if teammates could win the Triple Crown in the same season. That has never happened before. Both the pitching and hitting Triple Crowns have been won in the same year, but not by teammates. Teammates have also won the Triple Crown, but not in the same year.

Baseball is a sport that has been around long enough to have seen almost everything, and come October, one of those things might still be on the list.