CHICAGO -- The Braves haven’t yet clinched the National League East title. But their comfortable division lead has enabled them to ensure Chris Sale will get an extended breather before his final regular-season start and then make his first postseason start with extra rest.
Instead of pitching in this weekend’s series against the Astros, Sale will carry six extra days of rest into his regular-season finale on Wednesday against the Reds. Braves manager Walt Weiss discussed the decision before an 8-4 loss to the Cubs on Wednesday night at Wrigley Field.
“It’s a little bit of an extended break,” Weiss said, “but we feel it sets him up for the postseason.”
Extra rest has been highly beneficial for Sale, who ranks third in the Majors with a 2.18 ERA. The 37-year-old hurler has made just two starts on regular rest this year, with the most recent occurring on April 6. He has posted a 1.67 ERA in the 13 starts made with one extra day of rest and a 2.17 ERA in the 11 starts he has made with more than one extra day.
With Sale making his final regular-season start next Wednesday, he’ll be set up to start Game 1 of the National League Wild Card Series with one extra day of rest. The lefty has posted a 1.98 ERA in the 23 starts he has made since last starting on normal rest.
Even with Wednesday’s loss, the Braves still have a 4 1/2-game lead over the second-place Phillies with nine games remaining. Any combination of Atlanta wins and Philadelphia losses equaling five would give the Braves their seventh division crown within the past nine seasons.
The earliest Atlanta can clinch the division is Saturday.
With Bryce Elder recovering from a recent arthroscopic surgery on his right knee, Atlanta had to start Reynaldo López in the opener of this three-game series at Wrigley Field and JR Ritchie in the series finale. Their respective performances showed why neither had been projected to factor into the Braves’ postseason plans.
López allowed five runs over three innings of Monday’s loss and then was placed on the injured list after revealing he’s been bothered by right shoulder discomfort throughout this season. Most of Ritchie’s discomfort came courtesy of top NL MVP candidate Pete Crow-Armstrong and 2019 AL MVP Award runner-up Alex Bregman.
Crow-Armstrong began his seventh multihomer performance of the season with a third-inning solo shot against Ritchie. He also walked and tripled off the righty, who allowed six earned runs and seven hits over 4 2/3 innings.
“The guy is obviously a good hitter and sometimes guys are hard to get out,” Ritchie said.
Bregman doubled in a run in the first inning, homered to begin the fourth and then tripled in the fifth inning against the 23-year-old hurler, who was making his ninth start of the season and first since Aug. 2
“That’s a tough lineup to get through for anybody, let alone a young kid,” Weiss said. “But like I said, JR is going to be a good one. He just needs to tighten some things up. He's a young kid.”
With injuries reducing their rotation depth to the bare minimum, the Braves may have to give Ritchie another start on Tuesday against the Reds. AJ Smith-Shawver would be another option despite being shifted to the bullpen earlier this week. But López’s injury could force him to make another start before the season is complete.
Fortunately for the Braves, they will be starting Tyler Mahle, Grant Holmes and Martín Pérez in their three games against the Astros this weekend. Each of these three pitchers are projected to join Sale as part of Atlanta’s postseason plans.
“Yeah, that'll be good,” Weiss said. “It’s another good test for us in Houston. Another good team. It will be good to see Tyler out there [on Friday]. Hopefully we take that series.”