It’s no secret Chris Sale has struggled for the Boston Red Sox this season, but one Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher thinks there’s no need to worry about him.
Clayton Kershaw is another elite pitcher in Major League Baseball, and he says that Sale doesn’t look that bad on the mound.
“I know Chris enough to know he’s pretty mentally strong,” Kershaw said, via NBC Sports Boston’s John Tomase. “I wouldn’t worry about him. I also know from watching from the other side, it doesn’t look like it’s that far off. He punched out 17 guys at one point this year. He’s still punching out guys at a crazy rate. The velocity, the break, everything looks like it’s still there. It’s not like he lost it. It’s just a matter of figuring out in his brain what he needs to do. His loss is a lot of people’s best. It doesn’t look that bad from the outside.”
The Red Sox lefty is a subpar 3-8 on the season with an 4.04 ERA, but still has managed to strike out 153 in 107 innings — including a 17-strikeout game against the Colorado Rockies.
As the second half of the season gets underway, Sale will have to keep working to find his game and salvage his season.
