Boston Red Sox: 3 things to love about Chris Sale’s return

For the first time since August 13, 2019, Chris Sale took the mound for the Boston Red Sox on Saturday afternoon. His return against the Baltimore Orioles was everything Red Sox fans hoped it would be.

Sale, returning to the mound after Tommy John surgery, allowed two hits over five innings and struck out eight as he was met with thunderous applause upon his triumphant return to the Red Sox rotation.

The 32-year-old southpaw’s return is a welcome sign for the Red Sox, who trailed the Tampa Bay Rays by 5 games in the American League East standings entering Saturday’s play. The Red Sox have also seen their lead for the second Wild Card spot shrink in recent games as the New York Yankees have pulled within 2.5 games of them in the standings.

But all of that was put aside on Saturday afternoon at Fenway Park as Sale added another weapon for Boston’s stretch run to the postseason.

With that in mind, here are three things we loved about Chris Sale’s return to the Boston Red Sox rotation.

1. Sale was all over the strike zone

Over his five innings of work, Sale threw 89 pitches, with 60 of them going for strikes.

He gave a sign of things to come in the first inning, striking out two of the four batters he faced. He also showed he was ready for the emotions that would come with his return, throwing a 94 mph sinker that Austin Hays fouled off on the first pitch of the contest.

Let’s talk more about that sinker in the next point.

2. Sale was fooling the Orioles all day

In his five innings, Sale got 16 swings and misses from Orioles batters. One of his biggest weapons on Saturday was his changeup, which, according to BaseballSavant.com, had horizontal breaks of 20 inches on two pitches and 19 inches on four others. All but one of those pitches resulted in a strike, and no other pitcher on Saturday posted a horizontal break as high as Sale.

However, Sale still flashed that devastating sinker, throwing it 46 times and getting a combined 20 called strikes and whiffs using the pitch.

3. Sale got plenty of run support early

Boston hopped all over Baltimore starter Jorge López early, putting up seven runs on nine hits to stake Sale to the early lead. By the time Sale walked off the mound, Boston had put up 14 runs, giving him plenty of cushion and freedom to focus on making pitches to get Baltimore batters out.

If Boston fans were writing a script for how they would want Sale’s return to look, it would appear very similar to what was on display on Saturday.