Kiké Hernández apparently caught himself doing a double take at the radar gun Saturday when Boston Red Sox left-hander Chris Sale was on the mound against the San Diego Padres.
"Because the pitches looked way harder than that," Hernández told reporters, per MassLive's Christopher Smith, who pointed out how Sale averaged 95.4 mph on his four-seam fastball at Petco Park. "He had a lot of life. And he also had the slider working for him. He threw a couple of really good changeups as well."
Hernández, who hasn't always had the privilege of watching Sale work from just a few feet behind him at shortstop, was complimentary of the hard-throwing lefty. Sale limited the star-studded Padres to just two runs on three hits with eight strikeouts and two walks in seven innings.
"He's got everything going for him," Hernández told reporters. "I've been on this team for three years and I haven't played that much behind him. So to see him be the Chris Sale that I saw from afar, that I faced in the World Series in '18 and all those years in the past, it's just a lot of fun and I'm really proud of him because he's had to work his (expletive) off to get to where he's at right now."
Ever since Sale shared that he tweaked his mechanics and delivery late last month, he has a 2.30 ERA in 27-plus innings over four starts. The Red Sox have won three of those four games while Sale's opponents have a .163 batting average.
Red Sox manager Alex Cora expressed how those sorts of tweaks have caused him to feel much more comfortable with the 34-year-old. It's clear teammates like Hernández feel the same way.
