MILWAUKEE -- Chris Sale spent much of Friday afternoon pitching with traffic around him.
He never let it turn into much more.
Sale allowed eight hits across six innings against the Brewers, limiting Milwaukee to two runs on 94 pitches while striking out six and walking none in Atlanta’s 2-1 loss at American Family Field.
Milwaukee did its damage in the third. Luis Lara and Jackson Chourio opened the inning with back-to-back singles before William Contreras drove in the first run with another single. Andrew Vaughn followed with a run-scoring groundout, giving the Brewers a two-run cushion.
From there, Sale kept bending without breaking. He retired the side in order in the fourth before getting a major assist from Ronald Acuña Jr. to begin the fifth. Lara sent a ball down the right-field line and tried to stretch it into a double, but Acuña cut it off, spun and fired a 92.3 mph strike to Mauricio Dubón at second base for the out.
That play became even more important as the inning unfolded. Sale later allowed two-out singles to Brice Turang and Contreras, putting two runners aboard, but escaped the jam without allowing either to score.
Sale then finished his afternoon with perhaps his cleanest inning, retiring the Brewers in order in the sixth. He threw 68 of his 94 pitches for strikes.
It was not the dominant version of Sale that had carried a 2.16 ERA into Friday, but against a Brewers lineup that kept finding holes, he did enough to keep Atlanta within striking distance. Eight singles produced plenty of pressure. Sale made sure they produced only two runs.