Boston Red Sox: 3 takeaways from Chris Sale’s dominance in Tampa

Run support is his friend

With the way he has been pitching, Chris Sale should probably have a better record than 5-1.

Due to a lack of run support, the Boston Red Sox ace has had a few no-decisions this season.  Like much of last season, it seems when Sale is on the mound, the bats go silent for the most part.

While you will never hear Sale complain about the lack of run support, it has to be a little frustrating.  At least, his teammates realize his misfortune.  Following a three-run blast to give Sale an early lead to work with, Mookie Betts summed up just how important it is to score runs for his reliable ace in just one sentence.

"“Once we get the lead with that guy, we’re in pretty good shape,” Betts said."

Chris Sale returned the compliment by calling Betts the best player in baseball.

As far as the rest of the lineup goes, Rafael Devers did hit a blast late in the game to give the Red Sox more of a cushion.

Center fielder Jackie Bradley Jr., who has been in a major slump most of the season, delivered two base hits in Tuesday night’s game.  If he can get it going at the bottom of the lineup, that would make Betts just that more effective at the top of the lineup.

Looking at the big picture, that can only provide more run support for all Red Sox pitchers, particularly Chris Sale.

In all, it’s now how many runs they produce, it’s when they produce those runs.  When they come early, a pitcher like Sale becomes that much tougher.