Chris Sale pitches well and bullpen completes scoreless weekend as Braves sweep Diamondbacks
ATLANTA – As Chris Sale departed the mound and walked toward the dugout, the Truist Park crowd gave him a standing ovation after a job well done in his home debut. Perhaps it’ll be the first of many. Sale’s solid start helped the Braves defeat the Diamondbacks, 5-2, and secure a series sweep. Atlanta is 6-2. FIVE OBSERVATIONS: – 1. In the series opener, Spencer Strider apparently pitched through UCL damage in his right elbow – an injury that could be devastating for him. On the next night, Max Fried underwhelmed. The Braves are fortunate: On the final day of the series, they sent out Sale, a seven-time All-Star who was once baseball’s top strikeout pitcher.
And Sale, despite the injuries in recent seasons, has proven he’s still himself. Starting last September, when he played for Boston, he’s consistently pitched well. “That’s my job,” Sale said. “That’s what I did for a really long time until I didn’t, really. To be able to get back on track and get the first two starts out of the way, and just feel like I’m comfortable with my delivery and being able to command the zone.” Sale on Sunday permitted two runs over 5 1/3 innings. He struck out six and didn’t walk anyone. On Sunday, you saw the allure of that trade: It made the Braves’ rotation much better, and deeper, because it fortified the unit with another elite arm – provided they keep him healthy. Is Sale what he was in his younger days? Probably not. But that’s a high bar and to this point, this much is clear: Sale still has something – and that something is good. He can still do this at a high level. And with Strider sidelined, he’s
much more important. “It feels good,” Sale said of Sunday’s outing. “It felt like I had all three pitches working, felt like I was mostly commanding the zone. … This was my first time pitching here – ever – and first time pitching here as a Brave. It was special. I felt the energy throughout the whole game. To be able to pitch in front of the home crowd and have some success and win a ballgame, and then the ovation at the end was really special. My whole family was here, so to be able to share that with them and my team was nice.” – 2. The Braves’ bullpen didn’t allow a single run this weekend. “I didn’t even know that, honestly,” Tyler Matzek said. But it’s true: The Braves’ relievers combined to post 14 1/3 scoreless innings against the D-backs. The Braves’ bullpen hasn’t given up a run since April 2 in Chicago. The bullpen’s herculean effort was important because it allowed the Braves the opportunity to mount comebacks on Friday and Saturday. Sale perfectly described the bullpen’s weekend. “I
mean, that’s what happens when you got eight closers out there,” he said. The Braves had 11 different relief appearances. The D-backs didn’t score against Atlanta’s bullpen. “We’ll take that all the way, 100 percent,” Matzek said of the scoreless weekend. “I think down there, we have a level of expectation that we kind of put on ourselves. We’re all out there just trying to do our best to hold ourselves to that standard and hold everybody else to that standard.” – 3. More context on the Braves’ bullpen: Their scoreless streak of 14 1/3 innings is the
longest active run in baseball. It’s Atlanta’s longest such streak since the relievers threw 19 straight scoreless innings from May 31 to June 7 (when it ended) last year. “I don’t think I’ve ever been a part of something like that,” Pierce Johnson said of the scoreless weekend versus Arizona.
