After allowing a solo home run to San Diego Padres leadoff man Fernando Tatis Jr. and a double to Ha-Seong Kim with nobody out in the sixth inning, it wouldn't have surprised anyone if Red Sox manager Alex Cora relieved Chris Sale from Saturday night's game on the West Coast.
But Cora opted to stick with Sale, who had already thrown 84 pitches to that point, and the left-hander responded accordingly in Boston's series-clinching win in San Diego.
Cora explained his reasoning after the 4-2 win.
"I think since he (Sale) changed his delivery, I started feeling more comfortable with him," Cora told reporters after the game, per MassLive's Christopher Smith. "Velo, deception, that's part of it."
Sale threw 73 of his 111 pitches for strikes and stretched seven complete innings. He allowed just two runs on three hits with eight strikeouts and one walk.
"He was good. Good fastball, good slider, good command," Cora said of Sale. "Got in a little trouble there; we let him get out of it and then into the seventh it was kind of like, get the leadoff guy and he did and then get the next guy he did and he finished the end. But overall, everything he's been working on is paying off and he's in a great spot."
Sale shared he made tweaks to his mechanics April 30, four starts ago, after a win over the Cleveland Guardians. He allowed one run on three hits in 6 1/3 innings that game. It was the best he's looked and felt in a long time. And since then he's pitched six innings against the Philadelphia Phillies, eight innings against the St. Louis Cardinals and the seven against San Diego.
Sale has a 2.30 ERA in 27-plus innings during that span with the Red Sox winning three of those four games. Opponents have a mere .163 batting average in that span.
Given those results, Cora's rising level of confidence makes plenty of sense.
The Red Sox return to Petco Park for the series finale against the Padres on Sunday. First pitch is scheduled for 4:10 p.m. ET, and you can watch it on NESN after an hour of pregame coverage.
