Chris Sale much better in second start, earns first win of season as Red Sox beat Tigers
BOSTON -- Chris Sale was much better in his second start of the 2023 season, and the Red Sox bats woke up to get the lefty his first win of the year with a ### victory Thursday afternoon.
Sale tossed five solid innings for Boston against the Tigers in Detroit, fanning seven while allowing three runs off four hits and three walks. It was a big improvement from Sale's first start, when he was tagged for seven runs in just three innings against the Orioles last Saturday.
It looked like Sale was in for another short afternoon after he ran into some trouble right out of the gate. He threw eight straight balls to walk the first two batters, before battling back to strike out three straight in fairly easy fashion. Sale got Riley Greene looking and Spencer Torkelson and Eric Haase swinging to get out of his first-inning jam.
Sale surrendered another four-pitch walk in the second inning for his third and final free pass of the afternoon. Jake Rogers made him pay for that walk, hitting a two-run homer when Sale left a 94 mph sinker over the heart of the plate. It was the fourth home run that Sale has surrendered on the season.
Detroit added to its lead in the bottom of the third when Miguel Cabrera delivered with a two-out RBI single, making it a 3-1 game. But after that, Sale looked like the Chris Sale of old for two straight innings, complete with filthy movement on his breaking pitches.
The lefty needed just six pitches to set the Tigers down in order in the bottom of the fourth, getting a pair of groundouts before Matt Vierling flied out to center to end the frame.
Sale then struck out the first two batters of the bottom of the fifth -- Javier Baez and Greene -- before Torkelson reached on a throwing error by shortstop Enrique Hernandez. But Sale shook off that miscue (and a first-pitch ball due to a pitch clock violation) when he struck out Haase on an 84 mph changeup for his seventh and final K of the day.
While he had command issues early and his fastball was lucky to hit the mid 90s on the radar gun, Sale got into a nice groove later in the game on Thursday. He left after 74 pitches, 46 of which went for strikes.
Trailing 3-2 in the top of the sixth, the Boston offense woke up after Sale departed. Alex Verdugo led off the inning with a single up the middle and scored all the way from first when Rafael Devers -- who blasted a solo homer in the fourth to make it a 3-2 game -- launched a double deep off the center field wall.
A few batters later, Adam Duvall took Detroit reliever Jose Cisnero deep to center for a three-run blast, giving Boston a 6-3 edge. It was Duvall's third homer of the season, and the center fielder leads the Red Sox with 12 RBI in six games.
John Schreiber, Chris Martin, Ryan Brasier, and Kenley Jansen each worked scoreless innings out of the Boston bullpen. Jansen picked up his first save as a member of the Red Sox with a 1-2-3 ninth inning.
The two teams will get Friday off before continuing their three-game set on Saturday, with Tanner Houck getting the start for Boston.
