NEW YORK – Braves left-hander Chris Sale had nine days’ rest before facing the Yankees on Saturday afternoon in Yankee Stadium. He had a Jekyll and Hyde performance during a 5-4 loss to New York at Yankee Stadium.
In the first two innings, Sale threw a combined 34 pitches. His only blemish came in the second, when he allowed an RBI single to Spencer Jones. During the next two frames, dominance is the best way to describe Sale’s performance. He threw 24 pitches and struck out four batters.
The fifth frame ended up being Sale’s worst, as he allowed two runs on two hits while throwing 33 pitches. George Lombard Jr. scored the tying run on a triple by Jones. Two batters later, with Austin Wells in the batter’s box, home plate umpire Dan Merzel called a balk, believing Sale didn’t inform him that he was throwing from the windup. Merzel then told Jones to touch home plate to give New York the lead.
“I’ve seen Sale go out of the windup every single time,” Braves catcher Drake Baldwin said. “I’ve never seen him redeclare and be called. So it seems like a point of emphasis this year. That’s what the umpire told me. It’s just a rule that – I don’t know what the rule is, but that’s what happened.”
Weiss and Sale argued for several minutes that the latter didn’t balk. Weiss was then ejected from the game. It was Weiss' first ejection as the Braves' manager.
“I said what I thought I needed to say. [My teammates] got me and said, ‘Let’s keep you in the game.’” Sale said.
According to Weiss, Sale informed the umpires that he was going to do something similar when José Caballero came to the plate a batter before Wells and after Jones had tripled in George Lombard Jr.
“He is required by rule to make that declaration as a hybrid pitcher,” said crew chief Dan Bellino. “Your traditional pitcher that pitches from the traditional windup and traditional stretch do not have to make the declaration. Hybrid pitchers are held to a different standard because you can’t tell what they are based on their foot placement from the start.”
Sale didn’t want to talk about the rule for the hybrid pitcher, but Weiss was upset that such a rule was enforced. Weiss said during Sale’s 16 years in the big leagues, he has never informed an umpire what he is going to do on the mound. Weiss said he had never heard that rule before Saturday.
“Sale said he [constantly never informs the umpire what he is going to do on the mound]. Terrible call,” Weiss said.
“I always try to show the umpires respect. They know that, but you can’t make that call.”
Sale went back on the mound for the sixth frame and retired the side in order before losing his seventh game of the season.
“This is a tough game to lose by one run,” Sale said. “We lost Game 1 [on Friday]. I pride myself on winning my starts, especially after losing a game. It was a tough one all around.”
Sale counterpart, Gerrit Cole, pitched seven innings and allowed two runs on six hits. Atlanta was able to get to Cole in the fifth inning. Down 1-0, the Braves were able to collect four consecutive hits, with Mike Yastrzemski and Jim Jarvis driving in runs for a 2-1 lead.
But that fifth inning proved to be a back-breaker for the Braves.
“Especially when you have a guy like Sale that can punch anyone out. It’s tough to kind of give them a free run there,” Baldwin said.