For years, the Red Sox hoped and prayed for the return of vintage Chris Sale, the ferocious monster of a starting pitcher who for years struck fear in the hearts of veteran and rookie batters alike.
On Wednesday night in Atlanta, they got their wish, only too little, too late.
In his first start against Boston since June 2016, the veteran left-hander put on a true Chris Sale Clinic and the Braves won 5-0. Over six shutout innings, he held the Red Sox to six hits, one walk, induced 20 swings-and-misses, and set new season-highs with 10 strikeouts – nine of which came on his slider – and 103 pitches, 69 for strikes.
Sale, 35, was in rare form from the jump, beginning the contest by striking out Jarren Duran on three pitches. He got the leadoff man the same way in the top of the third, too.
Connor Wong ripped a double off Sale in the first and a single in the third, but found himself stranded on the bases each time, as the Red Sox’s struggles to drive in runs continued. Boston went 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position and left nine on base, bringing their LOB total to 21 over the two-game series; they entered the day second only to the Yankees on the AL leaderboard in leaving man on base.
“We didn’t cash in,” a frustrated Alex Cora told reporters. “I think we went 0-for-whatever with men in scoring position. He was good, and we’ve seen that before, but we need to be better. We have to.”
Wong’s first-inning two-bagger would turn out to be the lineup’s only extra-base hit of the contest, and he was the only man in the lineup with multiple hits. Tyler O’Neill drew their only walk. Duran and Wilyer Abreu each struck out three times.
After praising his team for playing “good baseball” throughout their recent low-scoring losses, the Red Sox manager took a more serious, frustrated tone when discussing the offense on Wednesday night.
“We didn’t hit throughout the road trip,” he said. “You start looking at our offense, and we fall into this trap that, it looks really really good because we score runs, but I mean, look at the shutouts and the percentage of games that we haven’t scored more than two runs. We gotta be better.”
Sunday’s 9-2 victory over the Twins notwithstanding, the Red Sox offense is in cold spell of arctic proportions. Despite entering the day with an MLB-leading 10 players with at least 10 RBI and boasting an offense that ranks in the top-five in the AL in nearly every offensive category – including second in slugging and doubles, third in OPS, and fifth in hits – it’s a feast-or-famine operation propped up by grandiose victories.
Boston is 2-13 when they score less than four runs and 0-14 when trailing after six innings. They’re 7-12 when they don’t homer, and dating back to April 28, they’ve only homered twice over their last eight games. Over their first seven games of the month, they’ve averaged three runs per contest and struck out 73 times.
When Sale came back out for the sixth inning, he opened with a strikeout on the edge of the zone to none other than his trade partner, Vaughn Grissom. The infielder thought he’d drawn a walk; instead, it was one of 13 times the Red Sox punched out. Sale bookended the inning with a swinging strikeout to Romy Gonzalez, and strode off the mound triumphantly.
“I’m just glad I didn’t suck,” the lefty told reporters.
Sale wasn’t perfect, but he didn’t have to be. Unlike the Red Sox, who often squandered his strongest starts – that 17-strikeout game against the Rockies comes to mind – his new team gave him everything he needed. The Braves bats gave him immediate, sizable run support; in 2019, only five AL starters received less run support than the 3.7 runs-per-innings-pitched Sale got from the Red Sox lineup.
He also had a strong defense backing him, highlighted by Austin Riley’s barehanded throw to first to nab the speedy Rafaela, and Jarred Kelenic’s leaping catch for the second out of the sixth. Garrett Cooper would’ve had a home run in 22 ballparks. Instead, viewers near and far were treated to a far rarer sight: a smiling Sale on the mound, laughing into his glove.
But for Boston, the story of the game was almost set in stone from the first inning. After the lineup left two men on base in the top of the frame, Nick Pivetta thought Ceddanne Rafaela had completed an inning-ending double play, and returned to the dugout to regroup for the next inning.
Instead, the Braves challenged the call, and after a lengthy review, the ruling on the field was overturned, and the Sox starter had to return to the mound. He gave up a single to Matt Olson to put runners on first and second.
Wednesday was Pivetta’s first start after a stint on the 15-day injured list with a mild flexor strain, and Marcell Ozuna welcomed him back the way Rafael Devers often greets Gerrit Cole: loudly. Atlanta’s designated hitter got his team on the board with a three-run homer, and Orlando Arcia made it back-to-back bombs with a solo homer. The Red Sox were in an immediate, significant hole; not only would they never climb out, they wouldn’t score at all.
“Man, we were shaking hands, giving high-fives because of the double play,” Cora said. “He went from high-fiving in the dugout (and) a nice double play, to be down four-nothing.”
In Ozuna’s next at-bat, he homered again, extending the lead to 5-0 in the third. Duran climbed the wall hoping to snatch the ball back, but it was in vain.
Pivetta exited after four, charged with five earned runs on seven hits, one walk, and only one strikeout. Josh Winckowski, Cam Booser, Chris Martin, and Chase Anderson made sure the Braves wouldn’t score again for the rest of the night, but Atlanta already had more than enough.
The Red Sox went 1-4 in Minnesota and Atlanta, and head home, clinging to one game over .500.
“Thank you and I’m sorry,” Sale told NESN before the game, when Jahmai Webster asked if the southpaw had a message to Red Sox Nation.
But on Wednesday night, he wasn’t the one who was sorry.
