We got the pitchers’ duel we were waiting for and Chris Sale came out on top in his old stomping grounds.
Chris Sale outdueled Garrett Crochet and the Atlanta Braves outplayed the Boston Red Sox on their way to a 4-1 victory that hopefully sets the tone for the rest of this series at Fenway Park.
We were advertised a pitchers’ duel and both pitchers lived up to expectations in that regard. Garrett Crochet struck out the side to start the game and then Chris Sale retired the Red Sox in order after Jarren Duran led off the game for Boston with a walk. After the way the first inning went, you would’ve figured that this would’ve been one of those games where we’d have to wait a while before we saw any real offense.
As it turned out, the Braves would only have to wait until the second inning. With Matt Olson at the plate to lead off the second inning, Crochet threw a fastball that was high and outside of the zone. Olson took a big swing at it and sure enough, he made contact and sent it flying just over the Green Monster in order to put the Braves on the board. This was a bit of a shock since this was the first homer that Garrett Crochet had given up to a left-handed batter all season.
As if that wasn’t enough, Sean Murphy immediately followed Matt Olson by taking the second pitch he got from Crochet and also depositing it into the seats atop the Green Monster. The Braves had a 2-0 lead thanks to the back-to-back jacks from Olson and Murphy.
From that point forward, both Sale and Crochet settled in and we got the pitchers’ duel that everybody came to see. Jarren Duran hit a one-out triple in the third inning but a strikeout and Rafael Devers getting caught stealing nipped that scoring chance in the bud. Nick Sogard nearly made it on to lead off the fifth inning but Chris Sale showed off some of the defensive quality that led to him winning the Gold Glove in the 2024 season in order to send Sogard back to the dugout empty-handed.
Once the sixth inning rolled around, Sale continued to show off why he’s good not just as a pitcher but also as a defender. With two outs in the sixth and Jarren Duran on first base, Duran was taking a very risky lead towards second base and Chris Sale caught him going too early, tossed it to Matt Olson who then chucked it over to Ozzie Albies in order to pull off the inning-ending picked-off and caught-stealing moment.
The Braves offense showed some life against Garrett Crochet in the seventh inning for the first time since Nick Allen’s leadoff single in the third inning. In fact, Atlanta loaded up the bases against Corchet with one out. Michael Harris II had the first attempt to deliver the knockout shot but Crochet struck him out. That brought Stuart Fairchild to the plate and if we’re being honest, I can’t imagine that there was much expected from Fairchild in this particular matchup. Sure enough, Fairchild struck out for the second time in tonight’s contest and Garrett Crochet’s final pitch of the game kept the Red Sox in it.
This ended up being pretty consequential because Rob Refsnyder proceeded to start Boston’s half of the seventh inning with a solo homer that cut the deficit in half for the Red Sox. Sale brushed off the homer and retired the next two batters until Nick Sogard hit one off the Green Monster in order to reach base. However, Sogard got greedy and tried to extend his single into a double and Eli White was having none of it.
White perfectly played the bounce off of the wall and fired the ball to second, which is where Ozzie Albies was waiting to eventually tag Sogard out in order to end Sale’s night on a high note. Seven innings, eight strikeouts, five hits, two walks and just one run allowed is exactly what the doctor ordered as Chris Sale left the game having gotten the upper hand over Garrett Crochet on this night.
Daysbel Hernández was the first man out of the bullpen for the Braves and his inning of relief got off to a shaky start after he walked Carlos Narváez to start things off. David Hamilton entered the game as a pinch hitter and immediately stole second base. Hamilton’s speed in scoring position was certainly cause for concern but fortunately, Hernández was able to clamp down and retire the Red Sox in order from that point forward in order to make sure that Hamilton was stranded at second base to ensure that Atlanta would head into the ninth inning with a chance to win.
In fact, the Braves were able to go into the bottom of the ninth with a bit of breathing room. Despite Liam Hendriks getting two outs on the board, a leadoff walk to Marcell Ozuna (because he is required to pick up at least one walk a game, apparently) and a two-out walk to Ozzie Albies forced Alex Cora to bring in Brennan Bernardino to hopefully nip the walks in the bud. Fortunately for Atlanta, Bernardino did the exact opposite and walked all three batters he faced — two of those came with the bases loaded and once Nick Burdi entered the game for Boston, it was 4-1 Atlanta.
Eli White was unable to break the game open with a hit once it was his turn to bat (and for what it’s worth, Eli White became the second different Braves leadoff hitter to go 0-for-5 this week. Phew.) and so the Braves handed Raisel Iglesias a three-run lead to work with once the bottom of the ninth rolled around.
Although Iglesias walked the leadoff batter and that runner ended up coming around to score thanks to a productive out and an RBI single from Trevor Story, Iglesias got the final three outs in order to lock down the win and give Atlanta a precious win. The Braves are now over .500 for the first time all season and hopefully this’ll be the last time that we have to worry about this team getting over that particular hump. They’ll have a chance to consolidate their position as a winning ballclub in the middle game of this series tomorrow night starting at 7:10 p.m. ET.