ATLANTA -- Chris Sale gained his 10th All-Star selection and then spent the next couple of hours showing why he remains one of baseball’s elite pitchers.
Braves manager Walt Weiss proudly told Sale about his latest selection and then watched the veteran southpaw deal against the Mets in Saturday night's 14-3 win at Truist Park.
“I always refer to him as a Hall of Famer, and I didn’t even know [he had 10 All-Star selections],” Weiss said. “But that’s crazy.”
What’s crazy is the tremendous level of success Sale has had since multiple injuries limited him to a total of 31 starts from 2020-23. His 10th All-Star selection is the third straight he has earned since the Red Sox sent him and $17 million to Atlanta in exchange for Vaughn Grissom before the 2024 season.
Sale's outing on Sunday included his 500th strikeout as a member of the Braves, which he recorded during a second-inning whiff of Mark Vientos.
Sale’s 10 All-Star selections are the most among active pitchers and the second highest-total among all active players, trailing only the Angels’ Mike Trout’s 12 selections.
How do you celebrate this accomplishment? Well, Sale limited the Mets to three runs and six hits over six innings. Tyrone Taylor’s two-out homer in the fifth ended Sale’s 46-inning homerless streak, which had stood as MLB’s longest. But Vientos damaged the veteran lefty again with a two-run shot in the sixth.
After being in total control through most of the first five innings, Sale didn’t retire any of the four batters he faced in the sixth. But Dylan Lee, who didn’t gain an All-Star selection, stranded two inherited runners with three straight strikeouts.