After appearing to get his groove back, Chris Sale’s last start for the Red Sox wasn’t his best. The southpaw gave up six earned runs on five hits, including two home runs, in Boston’s 9-6 loss to the New York Yankees at Fenway Park on Sunday.
That being said, manager Alex Cora still has faith in the southpaw, who’s now 5-10 this season.
“We expect him to go out in the next one and be great again,” Cora told reporters ahead of Tuesday’s game against the Tampa Bay Rays, per the Boston Herald’s Jason Mastrodonato.
Cora also called out some of Sale’s critics for their hypocritical comments.
“Last year a lot of people were talking about why 99 mph every pitch, it’s going to cost him in August,” he said. “Now people are talking about why not 97 mph every pitch when he’s getting hit. It’s one of those that everybody has a different view, but I do feel that he can pitch at whatever velocity he wants to. It’s just the secondary pitches.”
Cora added: “There’s always 95-96 mph. It’s just not 99 mph every pitch.”
Sale likely will take the mound against New York again when the Sox head to the Bronx for a four-game series at Yankee Stadium. So perhaps a successful outing against the Yanks this week will help him regain some trust with Red Sox Nation.
