Red Sox place Vaughn Grissom on IL as Chris Sale named Pitcher of the Month for Braves

BOSTON -- Most Boston fans understood that the offseason move that sent Chris Sale to Atlanta was a necessary move by the Red Sox. But as Sale dominates for the Braves, it's getting to be a bit tougher for Red Sox fans to accept the swap. 

While Sale helped the Red Sox win a World Series in 2018, he spent most of his final few years with Boston on the injured list. Both sides understood that a fresh start would be best, and the Red Sox traded Sale to Atlanta last December.

The Red Sox acquired infielder Vaughn Grissom in the deal, with hopes that the 23-year-old would become their everyday second baseman for years to come. But things got off to a rocky start when Grissom missed the first 32 games of the season with a left hamstring strain, and after he hit just .148 over 23 games, he's back on the IL.

Grissom was placed on the 10-day injured list on Sunday with a hamstring strain that he suffered while running out a grounder in Saturday's win over the Detroit Tigers. He'll undergo an MRI before any timetable is put on his return, though Boston manager Alex Cora expressed some optimism that this hamstring strain isn't as bad as the one that sidelined Grissom to start the season. 

But the little we've seen of Grissom hasn't been pretty. Only one of his 12 hits have gone for extra bases, and he's struck out 19 times over his 23 games while working just five walks.

Meanwhile, Sale has been filthy for the Braves. The 35-year-old is 8-1 with a 3.05 ERA over 11 starts, striking out 82 batters to just 10 walks over 67.2 innings pitched. Sale's 0.95 WHIP sits as the fifth-best in Major League Baseball.

He's coming off a 5-0 month of May where he had a 0.56 ERA and held opponents to a .193 batting average against. One of those five wins came against Boston, when Sale fanned 10 Red Sox over six shutout innings on May 8 in Atlanta.

On Monday, Sale was named the National League Pitcher of the Month for May. (He's off to a bumpy start in June, after he allowed eight earned runs over four innings in a loss to the Oakland Athletics on Saturday.) 

Grissom obviously has a lot of time to live up to the hype in Boston, but it hasn't been a great start for him or the Red Sox. And while chances are Sale wouldn't have enjoyed the same success in Boston that he's had with the Braves, his dominance in Atlanta is a reminder of what "Sale Days" used to be like in for the Red Sox.

Luckily for the Boston bats, they won't be going against Sale this week when the Braves come to Fenway Park for a quick two-game set starting Tuesday.