Chris Sale is back.
The Boston Red Sox ace, who endured a less than enjoyable stretch through the month of April, has turned things around in a major way over his last four starts. But no start this season has been as impressive as Sale’s outing on Wednesday.
Sale went eight innings, striking out 14 while walking none. He took a no decision, as the Sox needed 12 innings to take a 2-1 victory over the Baltimore Orioles, but Sale’s performance was the biggest takeaway from the evening.
Chris Sale's last 4 starts:
25 IP
14 H
5 ER
6 BB
40 K— Pete Abraham (@PeteAbe) May 9, 2019
After the game, Sale pinpointed what has helped him find his form over his last few outings.
“Getting in sync, my delivery … I would say the biggest thing is the fastball command,” Sale said, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “Feeling good with it within the delivery and just good tempo. Getting a rhythm, and trying to find a groove and keeping it going. That was the name of the game so, just try to keep riding that.”
Sale was dominant, flirting with a no-hitter, which he carried into the sixth, while chucking an “immaculate inning” in the seventh. He also joined some rare company with the 14-K, 0 BB performance.
Chris Sale joins @45PedroMartinez (3) and @rogerclemens (5) as the only pitchers with multiple 14+ K, 0 BB games in @RedSox history. pic.twitter.com/2kXziOMEK2
— MLB Stats (@MLBStats) May 9, 2019
Perhaps the biggest sign of encouragement was Sale tossed 108 pitches and was clocked as high as 95 MPH in the eighth inning. While Sale has been effective in his last few outings, he has not been able to go this deep into games.
“I’ve leaned on that bullpen way more than I wanted to early in the year. It obviously was reall ugly, I mean, you guys saw it,” Sale said. “Over my last few I’ve wanted to get deeper into games and help those guys because they have been working their butts off and they have been doing a heck of a job for us this year. Obviously the fresher we can keep them the better of f we are as a whole.”
Here’s more from Wednesday night’s Red Sox-Orioles game:
— It’s been a strenuous stretch for the Red Sox, who have been scheduled to play each of the last 20 days.
The club also has been surrounded by media hype surrounding their White House visit on Thursday. Alex Cora said all of that made Wednesday’s win a gratifying one.
Alex Cora postgame tonight: pic.twitter.com/0OatvGDmsu
— Pete Abraham (@PeteAbe) May 9, 2019
— Jackie Bradley Jr. not only saved the game, but perhaps made the play of the year.
The Gold Glove center fielder raised well above the wall to rob Trey Mancini of a homer in the 11th inning, and drew praise from Andrew Benintendi.
“It’s kind of under appreciated now, we’ve seen it so many times,” Benintendi told Guerin Austin on NESN’s postgame coverage. “We’ve seen climb the wall a few times and the ball was too far over the fence for him to get. But he timed that one up perfectly. I’ve seen him make that catch a few times, so it’s nothing new.”
— Benintendi also played a big role, launching the go ahead homer in the 12th inning.
It was the first home run Benintendi has hit to right field in quite a while.
Benintendi first pulled HR since August 10th, literally into the same spot in Camden Yards.
— Red Sox Stats (@redsoxstats) May 9, 2019
