Red Sox Notes: Chris Sale Takes ‘Big Step’ In ‘Tough’ Loss Vs. Blue Jays

Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale was a beaming light in Boston’s walk-off loss to the Blue Jays in Toronto.

He delivered a stellar outing that went overshadowed by several blown chances in 13 innings to leave Rogers Centre with a no decision.

While the offense was once again unreliable for the most part — held scoreless until the sixth inning — Sale remained laser-focused on keeping the Blue Jays lineup at bay. Toronto only tagged Sale for one run through six innings, striking out 10 batters.

“I think Chris was great,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora told reporters, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “I think location-wise, (it) was his best one of the season. Stuff-wise, it was OK but the breaking ball was good, the changeup was OK and the fastball command was outstanding. A good one, but a tough one for us.”

Sale leaned a bit into his prime form, cruising while giving the Red Sox offense plenty of time to do its part and attack Toronto’s pitching.

Velocity wasn’t working to Sale’s advantage, failing to reach over 94 mph, but that didn’t faze the left-hander. Instead, Sale mixed up his pitches, which included using his slider more than his four-seamer and changeup.

“I know he’s had some good games this season, but for me, that was the best one as far as like hitting the spots. Pitch ability was outstanding today,” Cora explained, per NESN. “… I said, ‘Today’s a big step for us,’ because we know that the 97-98 is not gonna be there all the time.”

Sale, who’s now 6-4 with a 4.66 ERA this season, hasn’t recorded a victory against the Blue Jays since 2019, although he got very close.

However, with the Red Sox not in contention and counting their days until the offseason arrives, collecting wins isn’t the goal at this point. Instead, Boston found a slight moral win in watching Sale adapt and rely on an alternative approach to get outs and rack up strikeouts.

“My key today was command, especially the fastball,” Sale told reporters, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “Had a good breaking ball going, change speeds. Connor (Wong) obviously notices the way the games going and does a good job of kind of adjusting on the fly, so had a good one today.”

Sale added: “Just being able to get a couple of extra days of rest and just felt like it helped my command more than anything. Not trying to play catch up out there and being able to throw things where I wanted to throw them, so that was nice.”

Here are more notes from Saturday’s Red Sox-Blue Jays game:

— Rafael Devers, who went 1-for-4, hit a two-run homer in the sixth inning that ended up being a milestone blast. With 171 home runs hit with Boston, Devers surpassed ex-Red Sox Jackie Jensen for the 13th-most hit in franchise history.

— The Red Sox squandered plenty of chances, going 2-for-15 with runners in scoring position, leaving 10 men on base and striking out 11 times.

— Boston rookie Ceddanne Rafaela took too many steps in on a fly ball in the ninth inning, which amounted to a game-tying triple from the Blue Jays with two out in the ninth inning.

“We expect him to make that play, he expects himself to make that play,” Cora said. “So, it was just a mistake and he learned from it and he’ll be better for the next one.”

— Triston Casas was placed on the 10-day injured list prior to first pitch Saturday in Toronto. After the loss, Cora briefly addressed the move.

“It doesn’t make sense to push him,” Cora said. “It’s something that, he’s been grinding through. … But the last two days have been a challenge for him, so put him on the IL. He’s flying to Boston tonight. He’ll get an MRI tomorrow so we’ll know more Monday when we get to Texas.”

— Boston is 7-5, having lost its last five consecutive, against Toronto in 2023.

— The Red Sox and Blue Jays wrap up their three-game set on Sunday. First pitch from Rogers Centre is scheduled for 1:37 p.m. ET, and you can catch the game, plus an hour of pregame coverage, live on NESN.