ATLANTA -- Chris Sale experienced 14 Major League seasons before winning his first Cy Young Award. If he extends his current success over the next two months, he may experience the thrill of winning this honor twice in three years.
Left fielder Mauricio Dubón’s apparent misread on a fly ball in the sun on Thursday at Truist Park ended Sale’s scoreless streak at 10 innings. But after enduring a three-run second inning against the Padres, the Braves’ ace regained his dominant form, tallied his 94th career double-digit strikeout game and exited with MLB’s second-best ERA in a 6-5 victory.
“I've talked about him glowingly all year, and I'll continue to do so,” Braves manager Walt Weiss said. “He's the real deal.”
Sale allowed three runs, surrendered five hits and recorded 11 strikeouts over six innings. His 2.19 ERA trails only Jacob Misiorowski's 1.57 mark among all MLB pitchers. The only pitchers to produce a sub 2.20 ERA (minimum 20 starts) during their age-37 season or later have been Roger Clemens (1.87, 42 years old in 2005) and Justin Verlander (1.75, 39 years old in 2022).
Making Sale’s latter-age dominance even more impressive is the fact injuries limited him to a total of 151 innings from 2020-23. The 2024 NL Cy Young Award winner’s three seasons in Atlanta have mirrored the success he had from 2012-18, when he finished top six in AL Cy Young Award voting seven straight years.
“It defies logic, really,” Weiss said. “After all the time he missed in Boston and then coming here and doing what he's done to rejuvenate an already great career, at this point in his career, is amazing.”
The 37-year-old Sale retired 13 of the final 14 batters he faced, including the final three via strikeouts. He has accounted for three of the six times a Braves pitcher has completed at least six innings within the team’s past 36 games.
This latest effort helped the Braves win three of four games in this series with the Padres, who entered Monday having won 11 of the past 12 meetings between these teams. Atlanta lost 19 of 29 games entering the All-Star break but has won five of seven since. The Braves' NL East lead is back to 4 1/2 games over Philadephia.
Sale also ranks seventh all-time with 94 double-digit strikeout games, breaking a tie with Curt Schilling. Sale trails only Nolan Ryan (215), Randy Johnson (212), Max Scherzer (114), Clemens (110), Pedro Martinez (108) and Sandy Koufax (97).
Sale's 11th win of the season was backed by solo home runs from Michael Harris II and Ozzie Albies, the go-ahead three-run shot by Dominic Smith in the fourth, and Drake Baldwin’s decisive homer in the seventh.
The line would have looked better and the veteran pitcher’s ERA might have dropped below 2.00 had Freddy Fermin’s lazy fly ball been caught in the second inning.
But Sale took all of the blame for San Diego's three-run second.
“I really felt like I let our guys down in that situation,” Sale said. “It was one of those things. My job after that was, I can't erase the three runs, but I can do my best to just keep them at three.”
Dubón was late in locating the high fly ball, initially retreating before racing forward as it fell in front of him in left field. Had the ball been caught, the following popup from Jase Bowen would have been the inning’s final out.
Instead, before getting that potential third out, Sale hit Jake Cronenworth with an 0-1 pitch, walked Fernando Tatis Jr. with the bases loaded after getting ahead 0-1 and surrendered a two-run single to Luis Rengifo on an 0-2 pitch below the knees.
“I wasn’t able to pick up one of my guys [Dubón],” Sale said. “I hit a guy, walked a guy and then gave up an 0-2 hit. That’s enough just to piss you off a little bit.”
Sale might have allowed his emotions to get the best of him for a batter or two in that second inning. But he quickly channeled his energy in a more effective manner and resumed his bid for a second Cy Young Award.
“He's going to go out and compete, man,” Weiss said. “Come hell or high water, he does what he's got to do. He might have a little snap, but then he's back up on the hill again, getting after it. He’s special.”