As Opening Day approaches, the Boston Red Sox quickly ripped off the band-aid that was the uncertainty surrounding starting pitcher Chris Sale.
Red Sox skipper Alex Cora revealed that Boston doesn’t intend to pitch Sale in the team’s season opener against the Baltimore Orioles on March 30 — a decision Cora made. That left the door open for speculation that veteran Corey Kluber could slide in as Cora’s go-to man to take the mound. And Cora himself didn’t rule out that possibility.
With Sale’s awaited return still in the works, Cora further expanded on where the seven-time All-Star stands following his second spring training start Saturday.
“Yeah, he’s good. Everything is normal,” Cora said, according to Ian Browne of MLB.com. “Yesterday, for the first time, he went out of the windup. He added that to the equation. Good slider, good fastball up. It was a good one. He’ll pitch Thursday. We’ll find a way to get four innings back here. It’s an off-day for us. But we’ve got to keep him on the schedule.”
Sale pitched three scoreless innings in exhibition action against the Minnesota Twins, allowing one hit and no walks while striking out five hitters four of which went down swinging. The southpaw peaked at 95 mph.
It’ll mark Sale’s fourth consecutive Opening Day absence since joining the Red Sox back in 2017.
Sale is battling back from what was an injury-riddled season, overcoming an initial return from Tommy John surgery in 2021 before a 60-day disabled list stint to start 2022. It then snowballed into a finger injury in July against the New York Yankees, then ended right back where he started after an out-the-blue bike accident in August.
