ATLANTA -- The Athletics proved to be smooth sailing for starter Chris Sale in the Braves' 5-1 series finale win at Truist Park on Wednesday, as a solo homer was the only offense they mustered against him.
Sale cruised through the order the first time through with three perfect innings. His fastball mostly sat in the low 90s but still repeatedly reached 94-96 mph during his second start of the season, including on his strikeouts of Max Muncy and Tyler Soderstrom to end the top of the second.
Shea Langeliers, the Braves’ first-round pick in the 2019 Draft who was traded to the A’s in ‘22, ended Sale’s perfect game bid with a towering two-out home run in the fourth inning that sailed past leaping left fielder Mike Yastrzemski’s glove and into the visitors’ bullpen beyond the left-field wall. Yastrzemski had possibly robbed a home run from Andy Ibáñez just two pitches earlier, in almost the same spot as the Langeliers homer, to preserve Sale’s streak of 11 straight outs to open his start.
Unflapped, Sale then struck out Brent Rooker for his third and final punchout of the day, the first of seven more A’s he consecutively retired. Manager Walt Weiss ended Sale’s day there: six innings with no A’s reaching base other than Langeliers on his homer. Sale threw only 79 pitches (57 strikes), earning his second win in the young season in which he has a remarkable 0.75 ERA.
Sale’s next start could be Monday in Los Angeles against the Angels, against whom he is 8-0 with a 1.24 ERA, 76 strikeouts and one complete-game shutout across 65 1/3 innings in his career.