LOS ANGELES -- Chris Sale created the first highlight by getting Shohei Ohtani to look at a 98.3 mph called strike three in the bottom of the first inning. His Braves teammates then aided his latest impressive outing with a few defensive gems of their own.
But it was a Jim Jarvis error and a Freddie Freeman home run that prevented the veteran pitcher from adding to his MLB-high win total against the Dodgers in Friday nigths' 3-1 loss at Dodger Stadium.
Sale surrendered three runs -- two earned -- and five hits over seven innings. The 37-year-old has lasted seven innings in three of his past four starts. He remains tied with Brewers reliever Aaron Ashby for the MLB lead in wins (six).
Friday marked just the second time Sale has allowed more than one earned run in a start this year. The Dodgers’ second earned run came when Freeman turned on a center-cut 97 mph fastball and drilled it over the center-field wall to begin the bottom of the sixth. This was Freeman’s fifth homer against the Braves since his long tenure with Atlanta ended after the 2021 season.
Jarvis made some jaws drop when he dove and remained airborne long enough to make an outstretched catch of Kyle Tucker’s sinking liner in shallow left field to end the fourth. The rookie shortstop, who made his MLB debut on Wednesday, then recorded his first career hit, a single, in the top of the fifth.
But Jarvis’ elated stretch expired when he began the bottom of the fifth by fielding a Miguel Rojas grounder and throwing the ball into the Braves’ dugout. Rojas later scored on Ohtani’s go-ahead single.
While Jarvis’ miscue hurt, Sale was also aided by Michael Harris II's long run to grab Rojas’ fly ball in the right-center-field gap with one out and a runner on second in the second. Harris was playing his first game in center field since tweaking his left quad on April 23.
Mike Yastrzemski has struggled offensively, but he added a solid defensive contribution in the third. Yastrzemski’s strong and accurate throw from right field was grabbed by Jarvis, who made a no-look tag to prevent Santiago Espinal’s attempt to stretch a single to a double.