LOS ANGELES -- Chris Sale will have to wait until Game 3.
Instead of having Sale pitch for the third time in six days, the Braves chose Ray Kerr to serve as an opener for Game 2 of the NL Division Series against the Dodgers on Sunday night. He delivered in that role again, going 2 2/3 scoreless innings with four strikeouts, two hits and one walk.
“We want full-strength Chris Sale. I know him at 80 percent is really good, but that's what it came down to,” Braves manager Walt Weiss said. “We've given him extra rest all year, and it's served him very well.”
Kerr's strong foundation set the stage for Didier Fuentes' 3 2/3 innings of one-run ball at the back end of the Braves' 3-2 victory over the Dodgers, which evened the NLDS at one game apiece.
As expected, Sale lobbied to pitch Sunday night. But the Braves stuck with their decision to give him a couple extra days of rest.
“Chris always wants to throw,” Weiss said. “Sometimes you have to take it out of their hands because he'd pitch every day if we asked him to. We know our club very well. We know Chris Sale very well. That's a decision we made to pitch him in Game 3.”
Sale went a week between starts quite frequently during the regular season. The 37-year-old hurler will do so again when he starts Game 3 of the NLDS against the Dodgers on Tuesday night at Truist Park.
The 2024 NL Cy Young Award winner threw 95 pitches over 6 1/3 innings in Game 1 of the NL Wild Card Series against the Phillies on Tuesday. He then returned to throw 21 pitches to close out the clinching Game 3 win two days later.
With the Braves having already lost the first game of this best-of-five series, their decision to go with an opener instead of a future Hall of Famer elicited some spirited reactions from fans.
But even before Sale threw 21 pitches in Thursday’s win over the Phillies, there was at least reason to wonder how he might fare if he started on regular rest on Sunday. He made just two starts all season on regular rest, with the most recent coming on April 6.
Sale entered Thursday’s game with two outs in the eighth and the Braves leading by four runs. With Bryce Harper at the plate, Weiss went with his veteran starter instead of Victor Mederos, Brent Suter or Raisel Iglesias, his only three remaining available relievers.
Iglesias would have been tasked with a four-out save while pitching on a third straight day. Suter and Mederos weren’t chosen to pitch in any situation during the Wild Card Series.
“We needed to win that series, and that was our best chance to do it,” Weiss said. “So I have zero regrets about pitching Chris Sale in that last game.”
Kerr worked 3 1/3 scoreless innings while serving as the opener in Thursday night’s Wild Card Series-clinching win over the Phillies.
Grant Holmes pitched two innings of relief on Thursday. He could once again follow Kerr on Sunday.
Kerr threw 47 pitches Thursday. So, he may only be available for an inning or two. Each of Atlanta’s high-leverage relievers have had at least two days of rest. Didier Fuentes could throw multiple innings out of the bullpen.