PHILADELPHIA — Winning the National League Cy Young Award for the second time in three seasons would be nice. But the determination Chris Sale has shown while recently matching up against three of MLB’s other elite starters has been a product of his desire to win another World Series.
“First game of a big series, having him on the mound, it’s what you want,” manager Walt Weiss said. “He never disappoints. He goes out there and he’s great, basically every time out.”
Coming off a shutout against the Dodgers, Sale struck out seven and limited the Phillies to two runs over six innings. His 2.10 ERA ranks second among NL pitchers, trailing only Brewers ace Jacob Misiorowski’s 1.97 ERA.
With just a few regular-season starts remaining, there’s a chance Sale could still overtake Misiorowski for the ERA title. But he’s more focused on doing whatever he can to ensure the Braves stay ahead of the Phillies and also stay in the hunt to gain one of the two NL byes.
“It’s crunch time,” Sale said. “You’ve got to win games from here on out. Just getting getting off on the right foot, winning game one of any series, you know, let alone a four-game series, it’s big. I just want to do my part.”
Sale stands with Spud Chandler (2.10 in 1946), Roger Clemens (1.53 in 2005) and Justin Verlander (1.78 in ‘22) as the only pitchers who have posted a 2.10 ERA or better through the first 25 starts of an age-37+ season in the Live Ball Era (1920).
Sale’s latest effort also improved the Braves’ bid to not have to play in the best-of-three Wild Card round. They are tied with the Dodgers for the NL’s second-best record. Atlanta owns the tiebreaker over Los Angeles, having taken five of six during their regular-season series. So, if the postseason started on Saturday, the Braves and Brewers would receive the NL’s two byes.
Sale should be postseason ready when the playoffs arrive. He opposed Misiorowski, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Cristopher Sánchez in his past three starts. He allowed four earned runs over 21 innings in those outings.
“We have a guy who gives us a chance every time he goes out there and we try to capitalize,” Mauricio Dubón said.
Dubón’s two-run homer in the eighth added to the lead the Braves gained when three singles, including one from the suddenly red-hot Ronald Acuña Jr., created a three-run second against Sanchez.
Alec Bohm doubled home a run in the second inning and hit a two-out solo home run in the fourth to account for the only damage incurred by Sale. Bryce Harper stranded runners at second and third with a weak popup to end the fifth. The Braves hurler then pitched around Luiz Arraez’s leadoff double with consecutive strikeouts to end the sixth.
“I wouldn’t say he had his best stuff, but even when he doesn’t have his best stuff, he’s still great,” Weiss said.
Sale’s next start could come next Friday, when the Phillies come to Atlanta for the opener of a three-game set at Truist Park. Sale would then make at least one more start and possibly two in the regular season. How much he might pitch in the second could be influenced by where the Braves are positioned in both the division race and the battle to secure one of the NL’s top two records.
Regardless, Sale has a chance to secure the 16 strikeouts he needs to become just the ninth pitcher to notch nine or more 200-strikeout seasons. The others are Nolan Ryan (15), Randy Johnson (13), Clemens (12), Tom Seaver (10), and Max Scherzer, Verlander, Pedro Martinez and Bob Gibson with nine each.