BOSTON -- Chris Sale gave Red Sox fans reason to celebrate in 2018 and reason to commiserate on Friday night, as he showed what they lost last year, when he was essentially given to the Braves.
Sale looked like the reigning National League Cy Young Award winner as he guided the Braves to a 4-2 win over the Red Sox at Fenway Park. This was the left-hander’s first start at the historic stadium since his seven-season tenure with Boston ended with a December 2023 trade to Atlanta.
“This is like walking into your childhood home,” Sale said. “You have a lot of memories that you built and a lot of relationships you still have and appreciate. You push all of that to the wayside to do your job, and that’s to go out and try to win a game, because the ceremony ends with pitch one.”
But the firepower continued throughout the game for Sale, who notched eight strikeouts and allowed just one run on five hits and two walks over seven innings. His four-seamer touched 98.7 mph and averaged 96.8 mph.
This was just the fifth pitch that Sale threw 98 mph or higher this year. As for that average, it was his highest in any game since 2018, which was the last of the two truly healthy seasons he spent with the Red Sox.
“My last few starts, I’ve been ticking upward,” Sale said. “I probably carried it a little better tonight. But again, you’re talking about Fenway Park on a Friday night. It’s tough not to feel that.”
Back-to-back homers by Matt Olson and Sean Murphy off Red Sox starter Garrett Crochet in the second inning provided adequate support for Sale, who helped the Braves (23-22) become just the fifth team to move their record above .500 after beginning a season with seven straight losses.
“Coming back here and pitching in Boston was probably a cool moment,” Murphy said. “You could feel he wanted it.”
Sale will always be fondly remembered in Boston as the guy who notched three strikeouts in a perfect ninth inning to end the 2018 World Series in celebratory fashion. But he battled some arm discomfort in ‘19 and totaled just 151 innings from 2020-23.
When the Red Sox sent Sale and $16 million to the Braves for utilityman Vaughn Grissom, they essentially said they felt he was done. But the lanky lefty responded by winning his first Cy Young Award. The lopsidedness of the trade has been enhanced by the fact Grissom has played just 31 games in the Majors since joining Boston.
“Tip your hat to [Sale],” Red Sox third baseman Alex Bregman said. “He's one of the best in the world.”
Sale fit that description as he finished among the top six in American League Cy Young Award balloting seven straight years, including his first two with Boston (2017 and ‘18). He regained a spot on this pedestal last year and then stumbled at the start of this season, posting a 6.63 ERA through his first four starts.
But with mechanical adjustments that raised his arm angle, Sale has again proven thoughts of his demise were premature. He has a 1.72 ERA over his past five starts.
“This is the guy we knew was in there,” Murphy said. “There was never any panic from him or about him. It was just a matter of getting a couple details squared away.”
Sale is focused on helping an Atlanta pitching staff that has posted MLB’s second-best ERA (2.17) since May 4. But he’ll always appreciate the time he spent with the Red Sox and this opportunity he had to return as an elite pitcher again.
One of Sale’s most vivid memories will be of hugging two of his sons before going to the clubhouse at the end of his outing. The two had come to the game with a neighbor, and unknowingly to their father, they had situated themselves near the dugout.
“That was a special moment,” Sale said.