Sale brings the heat in bounceback quality start

ATLANTA -- Chris Sale exited Monday’s maddening start in Anaheim and said, “I can't find a single person in this room that would be OK with going out there and doing what I did tonight."

Well, his Braves teammates were more than fine with what he did as he released some of his frustration against the Guardians in Sunday night's 13-1 win at Truist Park. The 37-year-old lefty threw consecutive 98-plus mph fastballs in the third inning and allowed just one run over six innings.

"Hall of Famers are just different and that’s what he is,” Braves manager Walt Weiss said. “I think he ran it up to 99 tonight on a pitch, and he had some 98s. He’s just a marvel really.”

Jorge Mateo tallied four of the Braves’ season-high 19 hits, and Dominic Smith hit his third homer of the season. But the night’s tone was set by Sale, who helped Atlanta take two of three from the only other team that had entered this weekend having not lost a series thus far.

Sale quickly distanced himself from the frustration he felt after allowing the Angels six runs over just four innings on Monday. The only lingering effect might have been a little pent-up anger or adrenaline. The 1-2 pitch he threw Rhys Hoskins in the third inning was clocked at 98 mph. He had thrown just three pitches this hard through his three previous starts this season.

But showing this wasn’t just a fluke, Sale followed with a 99.4 mph heater to Hoskins. The veteran had thrown just two pitchers 99 mph or harder since the start of 2019. One (99 mph) was delivered against the Phillies in 2023 and another (99.4 mph) was thrown against the Pirates last year.

“I think just some of the situations dictated for me needing to kind of hump up and get some outs,” Sale said.

Hoskins grounded out with runners at the corners to end the third. But his leadoff homer in the sixth accounted for the only run Sale allowed. The strong pitching performance could be described as more resilient than dominant. The Braves' lefty pitched with a runner in scoring position in four of his six innings and stranded seven runners.

After consecutive one-out singles by Chase DeLauter and José Ramírez put runners on the corners with one out in the first, Sale recorded consecutive strikeouts of David Fry and Hoskins.

Sale recorded six strikeouts, despite getting whiffs on just four of 18 swings against his slider, a pitch that generated a 35.9 percent whiff rate through his first three starts and had a 39.8 percent whiff rate in 2025.

Without his best slider, Sale leaned slightly more on his four-seamer, which averaged 95.7 mph during this 97-pitch effort. This matched the season-high average he produced in his Opening Day win over the Royals.

"I really only had to keep it in between the lines for two innings or three innings, and then the offense opened up that game tonight," said Sale. "I just had to kind of do my part. But this was definitely about the offensive side tonight.”