Sale shakes off postseason woes, fans Harper with triple-digit heat

ATLANTA -- How excited was Chris Sale to make his first postseason start in five years?

“I could have pitched this game at 8:15 this morning,” Sale said. “It was like one of those scary movies. My eyes opened and I just popped out of bed.”

Sale said this as he and his Braves teammates were still soaking in the thrill of seeing Austin Riley hit a go-ahead, three-run homer in the eighth inning of a 5-3 win over the Phillies in Game 1 of the NL Wild Card Series on Tuesday afternoon at Truist Park.

But the 37-year-old hurler’s juices were flowing long before this great comeback win was claimed. His adrenaline was certainly pumping during the first inning when he completed a strikeout of Bryce Harper with a 100 mph fastball.

Sale has now thrown a pitch 100 mph or harder 16 times in his career. Eight of those pitches were thrown during his 2010 rookie season. Six were thrown in 2018. The two most recent weren’t just thrown this year. They were both thrown recently. The first was thrown to Shohei Ohtani when the Braves ace threw a shutout against the Dodgers on Aug. 27.

“I'm just thankful to be in that position to be able to do that,” Sale said. “But there's a lot of people propping me up to be able to accomplish that.”

Throwing a triple-digit heater was far from the only impressive thing Sale did during what was the best postseason start he’s ever made. The Braves ace allowed three runs and four hits while recording nine strikeouts over 6 1/3 innings. He had never completed more than 5 1/3 innings in any of his previous seven playoff starts. Nor had he previously notched more than eight strikeouts in a postseason game.

In fact, the postseason hasn’t always been kind to the 2024 NL Cy Young Award winner. He entered Tuesday with a 6.35 ERA in 10 playoff appearances (seven starts). His three most recent came with the Red Sox in 2021.

“He was great,” Braves manager Walt Weiss said. “That’s how he looks every time out there.”

Weiss was talking about how consistently great Sale has been during his three seasons with Atlanta, especially while posting MLB’s third-best ERA (2.16) this year. The first-year manager has given the veteran lefty a long leash on a few occasions.

But when he sensed Sale faltering in the seventh inning Tuesday, Weiss went to the bullpen. Sale threw 95 pitches before Didier Fuentes entered with runners on the corners and one out. Fuentes allowed both inherited runners to score on J.T. Realmuto’s go-ahead, two-out triple.

“[Fuentes] is the right guy for that situation,” Sale said. “I don't think there's anybody that's watched our team play a single game this year that wouldn't agree with that. He felt bad about it. I said, ‘Hey, man, sometimes we need help too. You know, that's why this is a team game.’”

Riley delivered the help with the game-winning home run off Jhoan Duran. But it was Sale who created the opportunity as he subdued the Phillies’ offense most of the day.

“The experience was incredible and I’m looking forward to doing it again,” Sale said.