Sale, Baldwin lead Braves to another record-setting victory

“As long as we’re all dealing with the same circumstances, you still got to go out there and just compete,” Sale said. “I know people say a lot of stuff about the altitude, this, that and the other, but at the end of the day still got to go out there and find a way. So that was just really my mentality, was just go compete.”

His batterymate Baldwin had four RBIs through four innings and finished his night 3-for-4 with those four RBIs, a walk and a run scored. Baldwin now has six career games with at least four RBIs, three of which coming in the first 34 games of 2026.

Reliever Brennan Bernardino was used by the Rockies to open the game on the mound. That strategy didn’t work well.

Baldwin hit a two-run home run in the first off Bernardino, an opposite-field shot that just cleared the wall in left. It was Baldwin’s eighth homer of the season and set the tone for things to come.

It was Baldwin’s first home run of the season that wasn’t of the solo variety.

“It was pretty cool — I didn’t know what it was like,” Baldwin said with a laugh. “Didn’t know if I’d ever get there, but it was nice to get Ronnie (Ronald Acuña Jr.) a high-five at home.”

Bernardino (2-1) was pulled after recording two outs and facing five hitters. Chase Dollander finished out the frame with a walk and a strikeout.

But Baldwin got to Dollander in the second with a two-out RBI single that brought home Jorge Mateo and gave the Braves a 3-0 lead.

Eli White, who entered the game for an injured Acuña, brought home Austin Riley in the fourth with a safety squeeze bunt. Baldwin made it 5-1 with an RBI double that one-hopped the wall in right, making it 5-1.

Ozzie Albies’ sacrifice fly to the corner in left put the Braves (24-10) ahead 6-1.

Riley hit his fourth homer of the season, a towering, 438-foot shot into left, making it 8-1 in the fifth. It was Riley’s first long ball since April 17, when he hit two in Philadelphia.

All those runs were far more than Sale needed.

He retired the first six Rockies he faced before Kyle Karros began the third with a single. Jordan Beck’s two-out double into the corner in left plated Karros and got the Rockies within 3-1.

In the fifth, Sale momentarily lost the strike zone and issued back-to-back walks to start the inning. A fielder’s choice and two strikeouts, the latter of which ended with a wicked 98 mph fastball, kept the Rockies scoreless.

Sale emphatically gritted his teeth and popped out the veins in his neck when finishing the delivery of that pivotal heater.

“I think that’s kind of in his nature. I’ve seen it a ton of times now if he throws a pitch he doesn’t like or walks a guy he doesn’t think he should have walked, he turns it up a notch, for sure,” Baldwin said. “I can’t imagine being a batter when he does that because he’s throwing hard. His fastball just adds a couple miles per hour and he just really locks it in. When he gets in that mode, it’s tough.”

Said Sale: “I just feel like my focus was raised, especially after that inning where it just kind of got away from me a little bit. I really just kind of focused on getting back into my mechanics and really just pouring in strikes. The offense kind of blew this game open. This isn’t the place to get lackadaisical. One or two runs in other places turn into three or four runs here.”

Matt Olson hit a solo home run with two outs in the ninth, making it 9-1. It was Olson’s 11th homer of the year and the Braves improved to 11-0 this season when the first baseman goes deep.

The Braves will look for the series sweep at 3:10 p.m. EDT Sunday.