Boston Red Sox: Chris Sale Delivers Mastery on the Mound
Boston Red Sox ace Chris Sale has shown the type of dominance on the mound fans haven’t seen since the days of Pedro Martinez.
Chris Sale is the ace the Boston Red Sox have been looking for.
His dominance in his first four games in a Red Sox uniform has overshadowed the sluggish start of 2016 Cy Young winner Rick Porcello and David Price’s absence. It has even overshadowed the team’s lack of offensive production early in the season.
Well, unless he is on the mound.
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Thursday afternoon, Sale pitched a gem in Toronto. He held the Blue Jays scoreless through eight innings. The lefty struck out 13 while just giving up four hits. Still, his performance was only enough to earn him a no-decision as he left the game with just a 1-0 lead that was blown in the next inning by closer Craig Kimbrel.
Lack of run support
As frustrating as that must be, Sale is doing everything an ace does. Through the first four games of his Boston Red Sox career, he has a 0.91 ERA and 42 strikeouts to go along with his 1-1 record. More importantly, the team is 3-1 in his starts with the offense only providing 1.5 runs of support in those starts.
When asked about the lack of run support, Chris Sale told reporters after the game that his job is to pitch the best he can no matter what the score is.
"“It’s not different if they score 10 runs every inning,” Sale said, via Masslive. “It doesn’t matter what the score of the game is. You pitch to your strengths and you try to keep it where it’s at no matter what.”"
Sale did exactly that Thursday afternoon. He kept the team in the game when the offense was struggling and gave them the opportunity to eventually win 4-1 in 10 innings. He is performing like a big time ace and sounds like one when he isn’t pitching.
All in all, Chris Sale’s personal stats are taking a back seat to the team’s overall performance…at least to him. As for the rest of us, we are just marveling at the display of mastery on the mound.
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