Red Sox’s Chris Sale Says Teammates ‘Deserve Better’ In Loss Vs. Astros

Boston Red Sox ace Chris Sale got the nod in the opener of the three-game series with the Houston Astros at Fenway Park on Monday night.

Although he didn’t factor in the decision, the 34-year-old lefty wasn’t pleased with the position he put the team in against Houston, who put up 13 runs against Red Sox pitching in the loss.

“Not good. Definitely not good,” Sale told reporters, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “Didn’t put our team in a good situation. Put my teammates in a bad situation. Just all around piss poor effort to say the least.”

Sale threw 60% of his pitches for strikes (56-of-92 pitches), allowing three runs on seven hits while striking out six and walking two. It’s the third time he failed to complete five innings since returning from the injury list on Aug. 11.

“Just not doing my team, myself any justice,” Sale said. “It’s tough. Come here every day and put in a lot of work to not get a lot out of it. My teammates deserve better.

“They needed someone to step up big tonight. We were obviously gassed out in the bullpen. They needed someone to come in and act like an ace and that’s just not what happened.”

Sale exited the game with the Red Sox trailing 3-2 in the fifth inning, but Adam Duvall launched a two-run home run over the Green Monster in left center to give Boston the 4-2 lead before the wheels came off sixth when the Astros scored six runs off reliever Kyle Barraclough. Sale took responsibility for the defeat, even though Barraclough earned his first loss of the season giving up 10 runs over 4 1/3 innings pitched.

“Especially when it’s all your fault,” Sale explained. “I ruined multiple people’s nights tonight by what I went out there and did. And that’s embarrassing. It’s unacceptable. Who I’m supposed to be. What I’m supposed to be. I’m not even close and that’s a tough pill to swallow.”

With only 30 games remaining in the regular season and Boston five and half games back in the American League wild-card race, Sale said he knows he needs to get things going in the right direction for the Red Sox to have a chance.

“I’ve got to figure it out,” he said. “Bottom line. It doesn’t matter past, future, whatever. I just gotta figure it out, ’cause this is not gonna run well for the long term.”

Sale added he has a blank sheet of paper going forward and needs to stay locked in along with having better pitch command in certain situations.