Chris Sale has had better 12-month runs in his life.
The Boston Red Sox pitcher on Thursday spoke with reporters at spring training and revealed he was diagnosed with COVID-19 in mid-January. Luckily for Sale, his symptoms were mild, but it adds to a year of misery. He underwent Tommy John surgery to repair his left elbow last March and dealt with a neck injury while rehabbing the elbow.
Sale revealed his symptoms included a loss of taste and smell to go along with a bit of a runny nose but added his temperature never got above 99.
The illness underscores the challenges the Boston ace has faced in the last year, rehabbing alone at the club’s spring training facility in Fort Myers, Fla., where Sale and his family live.
“I was here five days a week when I was allowed to be,” Sale said in a video conference Thursday morning. I had a couple of run-ins with COVID that I had to be quarantined and it took me away. … I was able to stay on top of (rehab) during those times.”
Sale credited the Red Sox for helping him get in his work when challenging circumstances threw a wrench into the process.
“I gotta be honest, the Red Sox training staff they were just unbelievably accommodating,” Sale said, saying the team would even drop off essential equipment at his house so he could continue to do his work.
“They did all they could through all of this to make me comfortable through all of this.”
For Sale, though, the last year has been an exercise in perspective.
“It was different. It was tough at times, but you just deal with it,” he said. “At the end of the day, perspective is big in these situations. While I was rehabbing going through some stuff, I had it better than most.
“With everything going on in the world … you’ve gotta realize you’re not the only one going through a tough time and someone somewhere else has it tougher than you.”
