Chris Sale looked strong in his first start of the spring
BOSTON -- It was only his first start of the spring, but Chris Sale could barely contain his excitement and joy as he left the mound in Fort Myers, Florida on Monday. It had been a long time -- a long, long time -- since the lefty had thrown meaningful pitches for the Boston Red Sox.
Monday was still only a spring outing, but it was Sale's first time on the rubber since July 12 of last season, after a year full of injury frustrations and not a lot of pitching. On Monday, Sale got back to being Sale.
The southpaw delivered two shutout innings for Boston in his spring debut against the Detroit Tigers, surrendering two hits while striking out a pair of batters. His fastball was in the mid-90s and his slider left hitters baffled.
Sale's first pitch of the game was a called strike against Matt Vierling. He had the center fielder down 1-2 in the count before being hit with an automatic ball for violating the new pitch clock. After Vierling fouled off Sale's next two offerings, he sent a changeup up the middle for a single.
Sale got Riley Greene to hit a sharp grounder to first baseman Justin Turner, but was a little slow getting over to first for Boston to spin a double play. There was a lot going through Sale's mind in his first outing in eight months.
But he calmed down and made the rest of the outing look like a breeze. Sale got Javier Baez to fly out to deep center for the inning's second out, and then fanned Eric Haase on a 96 MPH fastball to end the frame.
After the Red Sox spotted him a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the first, Sale started the top of the second by getting Tyler Nevin staring at one of his nasty backdoor sliders. Kerry Carpenter flew out to shallow center for the second out of the inning, before Zack Short singled to left on the first pitch of his at-bat. But Sale made quick work of Nick Maton, retiring the Tigers third baseman on a soft comebacker to the mound to end the frame -- and his afternoon.
Sale walked to the Boston dugout with a giant, ear-to-ear smile on his face. High fives and hugs in the dugout followed.
After missing large portions of the last three seasons, the 33-year-old isn't taking anything for granted.
"Today was a good day. I felt good. Anytime you can roll out a couple of zeros, it's a good thing," he said after his outing. "I'm very appreciative to be out there, and I had a little fun along the way too."
Of the 32 pitches that Sale threw on Monday, 24 of them went for strikes. He was pleased with his command of the zone, especially after such a long time away from the mound.
"If I command the ball, everything else is lined up the way it needs to be," Sale said. "Velocity for me right now, today was the first time I've seen a number since I started throwing again. If I'm commanding the ball well and shaping my pitches the way I want them to be, that means my mechanics are in sync and I'm hitting the spots I want to hit. Everything else will fall into place."
A quick worker throughout his career, Sale didn't seem too bothered by MLB's new pitch timer. While he was hit with an automatic ball after just three pitches into the game, he had no more infractions and never really came close to any.
"It's definitely quicker. But I'm a huge fan of it and I love it. It gets people into it and there's little lag time," Sale told NESN of the new rule. "It's going to take some adjustments, but once we get a couple under our belt we'll be fine.
"It's more baseball, less lag time," he added. "I may be able to catch a couple of hitters after night games."
Prior to Sale's outing, Boston manager Alex Cora highlighted just how big this spring debut was for both the pitcher and the organization. Not the results of the outing -- but just getting Sale back on the mound.
"He's important for us, and we know that. We made a commitment in 2019 and it hasn't worked out, physically. The individual, the person, he's worked out for us. In the clubhouse and the community, he's a presence," said Cora. "Now we have to get him out on the field. Today is a big step."
