Chris Sale’s Atlanta Braves Resurgence Tour Stops at Yankee Stadium

The sight of Chris Sale hitting 98 mph at one point during his five innings in the humidity of Yankee Stadium certainly caught the attention of a few teammates, who for more than two months have been playing meaningful games with him as a starter for the Atlanta Braves. .

Among them was Jarred Kelenic, who asked a small scrum something along the lines of: What did he throw 98?

Yes, Sale threw 98 and it was the continuation of a comeback season for the pitcher who earned the last out of the 2018 World Series for the Boston Red Sox by retiring Manny Machado at Dodger Stadium.

And the conclusion was that the acquisition of Sale is going very well.

“He’s fun to watch and fun to play behind,” Kelenic said. “We have a lefty who throws 90 miles an hour, some people run like that, it’s a tough AB, especially when he’s on both sides of the plate, it’s a tough night.”

It was unclear which version of Sale the Braves were getting when they acquired him Dec. 30 from the Red Sox. The Red Sox were so willing to move on that they sweetened things by paying $17 million of the expected $27.5 million, a figure that became a two-year, $38 million contract with a lot of deferred money.

“He’s healthy again,” manager Brian Snitker said after Sale’s 10th win gave him double-digit wins for the first time since 2018. “He had a normal offseason. We traded for him, he started throwing on the complex a few days a week and he just had a regular spring. There were no restrictions or anything like that.

“I think it’s amazing what it feels like for him to have a normal offseason and practice and all that and come into spring training. He was a normal guy out there and he was really, really good. I’m sort of saying I think he’s back to where he was.”

Back where he was is the pitcher who had seven straight double-digit seasons from 2012 to 2018. After his second season with the Red Sox, Sale signed a deal that added $145 million over five years.

During his new contract, various injuries limited Sale to 56 starts and 17 wins. Left elbow issues ended his season after 25 starts in 2019, then came Tommy John surgery and perhaps the most frustrating injury occurred in his final appearance at Yankee Stadium on July 17 2022.

As the Yankees were cruising to their 64th victory in 92 games before the All-Star break two years ago, Sale broke his left pinky finger on a line drive from Aaron Hicks. It was one of those frustrating injuries that devastated him because Sale knew from the start that he had broken his finger.

In a similar part of the visiting clubhouse where Sale spoke about the frustration of his broken finger, he was proud of what he has achieved so far with his new team but also introspective.

“It could happen at any time,” Sale said. “We’re never really out of the woods. I’ve been through too much to stand here and say something like that right now. I know what this game could be like. I just like being able to sit back and appreciate what I have right now, where I am and who I’m doing it with. I really have to stay focused on each day and not try to get too far ahead of myself in this game.

“Just like we weren’t worried when things didn’t go well, we’re not going to sit here and have a party when it happens. You just have to stay consistent, stay at work and continue to do your part.”

Sale more than pulled his weight for a team that lost Spencer Strider to Tommy John surgery in April and is starting to hit its stride of late for many reasons.

“We saw a lot of the great Chris Sale in his early years with the Red Sox there, and then obviously the Chris Sale who had a lot of injuries and struggled,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. after watching Aaron Judge and Juan Soto. struck out twice each against Sale. “He looked really good.”