BOSTON -- Chris Sale seems to enjoy reminding the Red Sox what they gave away via a lopsided trade that continues to benefit the Braves.
Sale made it clear this wasn’t just another start as he hurled a series of 98 mph fastballs during the first inning of Atlanta's 10-2 win over the Red Sox on Thursday afternoon at Fenway Park. The 37-year-old left-hander’s adrenaline then continued to carry him through his latest successful start against his former team.
“I definitely appreciate coming back here,” Sale said. “I still have my home here. We come up in the offseason. I enjoy the city of Boston. It was really good to me for a really long time.”
Though he encountered some trouble, Sale stayed in control while recording eight strikeouts and limiting the Red Sox to two runs over five innings. He had allowed just one run over the 13 innings he totaled in the two previous starts he’d made against the Red Sox since being traded to Atlanta before the 2024 season.
How excited was Sale to pitch in Boston? He entered the day having thrown 16 pitches 98 mph or harder all season. Four of the 10 fastballs he threw in the first matched or exceeded this speed. His four-seamer averaged 97 mph, marking the highest average he has recorded since the start of the 2019 season.
When the Red Sox sent Sale and $17 million to Atlanta in exchange for Vaughn Grissom before the 2024 season, their assumption was he would never again be the great pitcher he was before injuries limited him to just 151 innings from 2020-2023.
Sale won the 2024 NL Cy Young Award, and he is currently in position to earn his third straight All-Star selection since the trade. He ranks seventh in the Majors and fourth among NL pitchers with a 2.01 ERA.
“It's always a good day when Sale is on the mound for us,” Braves manager Walt Weiss said. “We always feel good. It's not always going to be as easy as it looks for him. He had to really fight for it today, and he did. He always does.”
Age hasn’t prevented Sale from being the elite pitcher he was when he recorded three strikeouts in a perfect ninth inning to secure the 2018 World Series for the Red Sox. He now stands with Charlie Morton as the only pitchers aged 37 years or older to register at least seven strikeouts over seven or more starts for the Braves.
Sale pitched around center fielder Michael Harris II’s defensive miscue in the first inning and he stranded two runners in both of the next two innings. His good fortune was halted in the fourth when he issued Isiah Kiner-Falefa a leadoff walk and allowed both a Caleb Durbin RBI double and a Jarren Duran RBI single.
“I felt like I did just enough to kind of keep us in it,” Sale said. “ I told [catcher Sandy León] after that it was really impressive how he got me through it, because my slider was going the other way. My fastball command was all over the place. But he got me through it.”
Fittingly, León was Sale’s catcher in Boston during the left-hander’s best days with the Red Sox.