Chris Sale’s night looked to be done with two outs in the sixth inning of Tuesday’s game against the Rays.
But the Red Sox left-hander talked manager Alex Cora into letting him stay out there, eventually getting the third out en route to Boston’s 5-4 win over Tampa Bay at Tropicana Field. Christian Vazquez came up clutch in the seventh with a pinch-hit home run, which in turn made Sale eligible for his fifth win of the season.
Sale had a runner on with one out in a 2-2 game when Cora came out for what many assumed was a pitching change. But all it took was a simple reason to keep the southpaw on the mound.
“I went out there to take him out and he said he had three more pitches left,” Cora said on NESN’s postgame coverage.
Sale has been hard on himself all season and has shouldered much of the blame for his rough season. But he knew he could finish the inning.
But why did he say he had three more pitches?
“Because that’s how many it takes to get a punchout,” Sale said on NESN’s postgame coverage.
The left-hander didn’t need all three pitches, though, as he got Guillermo Heredia to lineout to end the sixth en route to the win.
