Chris Sale threw six innings of one-hit ball while the Braves were cruising to a 6-2 victory over the visiting Phillies at Truist Park on Sunday afternoon.
Sale was effectively wild at times — he walked two and hit another batter. But he also fanned nine, and Trea Turner’s two-out single in the third was the only hit the veteran lefty surrendered. Sale induced 15 swings and misses, including seven on his slider and four with his change-up.
It was also career win No. 150 for Sale.
“Well, I had a few days off I was supposed to throw, I think, against the Nationals (Thursday), but got pushed back. And then got pushed back again (to Sunday). So I had some days to really kind of dial some things in,” Sale said. “I played long toss a couple times. I got off the mound twice in between starts. And was really able to kind of dial some things in and get some extra work.
“It almost felt like I was in spring training again ... and was just able to kind of focus on some pitching stuff that I knew I needed to kind of clean up,” Sale added.
The Braves (20-9) gave Sale a 3-0 lead in the first inning en route to their eighth series win in nine tries (they split the other one). The 1999 Braves started their season playing nine straight series before losing, and the 1983 Braves went 10 straight series before dropping one.
Manager Walt Weiss’ club also improved to 18-0 when leading after eight innings, 14-0 when scoring at least six runs and 5-0 in rubber games of a series.
“Every team wants to come out and get off on a good foot,” Braves first baseman Matt Olson said. “Really kind of since start of spring, just feel like we’ve been playing, for the most part, good clean baseball, doing, doing the little things and they’ve kind of been adding up.
“Last year felt like a lot we were on the losing side of a lot of those tight games, and couldn’t get the big hit to get things going. This year it’s kind of been flip-flopped and taking advantage of a lot of opportunities and getting wins for it.”
The Braves made Phillies starter Aaron Nola pay for his early faults.
After Ronald Acuña Jr. reached on an infield single and Drake Baldwin lined a hit to right, Olson turned on an inside fastball on a 3-1 count and made it a souvenir for the fans sitting in the seats in front of the Chop House in right.
It was Olson’s eighth homer of the season, and it put the Braves ahead 3-0.
Eli White hit his second home run of the season, both coming within the last week, in the second. His 361-foot fly ball into the Phillies bullpen scored Mauricio Dubón, who had tripled to start the inning, and put the Braves ahead 5-0.
Following an Acuña walk, an RBI single from Baldwin made it a 6-0 game.
And that was plenty for Sale to work with.
Sale’s second inning was eventful for a few reasons. A 2-2 pitch to rookie Felix Reyes was lined right back at Sale’s face, and the left-hander threw both hands up to defend himself. And defend himself he did, stabbing the ball with his glove for an out.
“I don’t know how hard it was, but it felt like it was 150 miles an hour back at me,” Sale said. “I had to check myself after that one.”
In the ensuing at-bat, Adolis García swung at a slider darting in toward his feet and struck out. It was Sale’s 2,611th career strikeout, moving him past Chuck Finley for 28th on MLB’s all-time strikeout list and seventh all-time among left-handed pitchers.
Sale ran into trouble in the third when his command went MIA for a bit. A hit batter, a single and a walk loaded the bases for Bryce Harper. Sale fell behind 3-0, but Harper fouled off a 3-0 fastball on the inside edge, took a 3-1 fastball down the middle and foul-tipped a 3-2 fastball to strike out and end the inning.
“It got a little off the rails there,” Sale said. “I felt like I was getting kind of out of my mechanics, a little bit, kind of overcooked the slider and hit a guy with it. And then all the other ones were just kind of falling off to the left. It wasn’t really until I threw like a four-seam fastball extension side where it kind of locked back in. Unfortunately, that was 3-0 with the bases loaded. It would have been nice to figure that out a little bit quicker.
“But got into the dugout after that inning, and was just talking with ‘Baldy’ (Baldwin) and ‘Hef’ (pitching coach Jeremy Hefner) and they were just kind of pointing some things out, getting me back on track. And after that it felt a little bit more in line.”
The Phillies (9-19) managed only one more base runner against Sale, who finished his day after 100 pitches.
Nola (1-3), making his 39th career start against the Braves, persevered through 4⅔ innings and was charged with six runs on seven hits and three walks.
Both of the Phillies’ runs came in the eighth and were unearned.
Braves third baseman Austin Riley, who is 2-for-his-last-26 at the plate, missed when he took a stab at Rafael Marchán’s grounder, which would go to roll down the third-base line. One out later, Kyle Schwarber put a home run into the seats in right.
About the Author
Keep Reading
The Latest
Featured
