Red Sox Ace Chris Sale ‘Shaved Couple Weeks Off’ Injury Timeline

There’s no timeframe yet for Chris Sale to return to the mound, but the Boston Red Sox ace is in a better position than he anticipated since landing on the injured list.

Sale took a step forward in his recovery Thursday when he was cleared to throw following an MRI. Sale threw from 60 feet at 60 to 70%, according to MassLive’s Chris Cotillo, at Fenway Park prior to Boston’s series finale with the Miami Marlins. It’s the first baseball activity for the 34-year-old since landing on IL on June 2 with a stress reaction in his left scapula.

And with that, Sale feels he’s ahead of schedule.

“I’ve felt good for a while now,” Sale told reporters, per Cotillo. “And that’s kind of the worst part of it, that’s what I heard a lot is, ‘You’re going to feel pretty good quick, and then you’re still going to have to kind of sit around and wait.’ Initially we thought this was going to be closer to six weeks but, luckily we shaved a couple weeks off and obviously appreciate the guys that I have working for me because that helps me a lot.”

Sale looked like his former self again up until having to leave his outing against the Cincinnati Reds to begin the month with the injury. After a rough start to the campaign, Sale went 4-0 with 2.25 ERA and 41 strikeouts in 36 innings over his final six starts.

“I threw a baseball for the first time in four weeks today. I’m in a pretty good mood.”

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Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale

The Red Sox moving Sale to the 60-day IL on June 9 means he won’t be eligible to return until August at the earliest, but the good news Sale received Thursday had him upbeat. He’s not trying to get ahead of himself, though, having been down the injury road countless times before.

“I threw a baseball for the first time in four weeks today. I’m in a pretty good mood, so I’ll leave that to all them,” Sale said, Cotillo. “They’re the ones that put the programs together, timetables, all that stuff. I just show up and do what I’m told at this point.

“My shoulder feels good, my elbow feels great. First time getting to throw in a long time and obviously the anticipation, the excitement, it’s hard to throttle back. But at the same time, you know, this is a process. If you’re going to run a marathon you don’t just go out there and run 20 miles on Day 1, you build up to that. I’ve got to trust the process, respect my body and just go through it.”