Chris Sale fires dominant no-hit bid: Is the ace back in Boston?
As a rough start to a season slowly progresses into the realm of legitimate concern, a player, team and fanbase will look at any positive game as the beginning of a potential bounce back.
When it comes to those hopeful turnarounds, it rarely gets better than what Boston Red Sox lefty Chris Sale did on Wednesday.
Chris Sale loses no-hit bid ... then makes history
Taking the mound against the Baltimore Orioles in search of his second win of the season, Sale took a no-hitter into the sixth inning while mowing down the hapless Orioles offense.
Sale would eventually lose the no-hit bid on a Joey Rickard single, then the shutout on a Trey Mancini RBI double. That might have been disappointing, but then Sale went out and recorded an even rarer pitching feat: an immaculate inning, the 96th in MLB history.
9 pitches
9 strikes
3 Ks
IMMACULATE pic.twitter.com/dbMalJM0W9— Boston Red Sox (@RedSox) May 9, 2019
Sale eventually finished with a pitching line of eight innings, one earned run allowed and a season-high 14 strikeouts. It was easily Sale’s best performance of the season, but that isn’t saying much.
Sale needed a night like this
Sale entered the game with a 5.25 ERA — nearly two runs more than his previous career-worst — and among the most disappointing players on a very disappointing Red Sox team.
Racking up strikeouts and inducing awful looking swings has always been the key to Chris Sale’s success, and he very much looked the part on Tuesday.
14 whiffs on just 42 four-seamers thrown by Chris Sale today.
That's a 33% swinging-strike rate. On Four-Seamers.
I'm normally happy when a pitcher has a 10% rate. Jeeeeeeeeeeeez.— Pitcher List (@PitcherList) May 9, 2019
It’s worth noting that while Sale’s overall numbers have been bad this season, he had at least been trending upward in his last few games. Over his last four starts, the southpaw has pitched 26 innings while racking up 42 strikeouts and a 1.73 ERA.
However, there is a small caveat to that encouraging run.
One area still concerning for Sale
Sale has now reached double-digit strikeouts in three games this season. His opponents in those three games — the Orioles, Chicago White Sox and Detroit Tigers — all rank near the bottom in runs produced in the American League.
When Sale faced the AL’s most productive offense in the Seattle Mariners on opening day, he allowed seven earned runs. Against the New York Yankees, he yielded four earned runs.
It’ll be hard to pronounce Sale as officially back unless he can shut down and strike out a legitimate top offense, especially given his well-known postseason woes.
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