Personally, I’d say he’s doing a good job of not sucking out there.
Chris Sale spoke with the media following his excellent start on Tuesday night. While Sale didn’t factor into the decision, the Atlanta Braves very likely don’t beat the Reds on Tuesday without Sale’s strong performance in this one. Sale spoke with the media following the game and as usual, he was effusively praising everybody else without really focusing on himself.
With that being said, he did eventually talk about how he’s been trying his best to find his groove here in the early goings of the season. “There’s a lot that goes into it. I’ve been on the mound a lot in between starts just trying to iron some things out. I’ve been bouncing some ideas off of [Rick Kranitz] and my teammates…there’s a lot that goes into it. It’s not just me going out there and figuring it out.” He eventually summed it up his efforts to improve in a pretty succinct manner: “I’m just trying not to suck.”
While Sale may always be reticent to talk about himself, Brian Snitker had nothing but praise for the 2024 NL Cy Young Award winner. “He was really, really good — again,” said Snitker when he was asked about Sale’s performance tonight. “The last two or three times out, he’s been really good. His velocity was really good early, his slider was really good again and he was just really good.”
He also had a lot of positive words to say about Michael Harris II, who delivered the huge game-tying hit in the ninth inning of Tuesday night’s win. “He’d been struggling — I know he was out here hitting earlier today and processing things, so that was good for him. He nearly won it for us in the previous at-bat when he could’ve split the gap and scored two. [His performance tonight] was real encouraging to see.” When it came to Marcell Ozuna playing through his leg ailment, Snitker made sure to emphasize that there was nothing to worry about when it came to his leg. “It was just a little cramp,” said Snitker. “I told him “más agua.”
Atlanta’s skipper also had nothing but positive stuff to say about how his bullpen performed on Tuesday night. “Huge out by Pierce right there,” said Snitker. “I was just sitting there in the dugout thinking “Get this guy and we’re going to win the game.” That was a really big at-bat because Chris left it all out there and he picked it up big time, so that was huge. He also singled out Daysbel Hernández for his appearance as well. “Daysbel just kept pitching and minimized [the damage] so the bullpen was just really, really good.”
When asked about Chris Sale reaching 300 starts and 2000 innings for his career, Snitker had just as much praise for the professional. “It speaks volumes to the career the man’s had and how he’s persevered through a lot of injuries. I have so much respect for that guy. I can talk all day about what a great teammate he is and how professional he is and how competitive he is. It’s a lot of fun being on his team.”
While the comeback win was certainly dramatic, Chris Sale’s fantastic performance for seven innings was the talk of the town in this one and Sale himself was probably the most thrilled to see the team get this one over the finish line. “It just shows the character of this team,” said Sale when asked about his reaction to the win. “We were down to our last couple of outs and the last inning and we found a way to do it against a good team. It was just a grind the whole way through and just a big win overall from the entire squad, really.”
With the Braves now having a chance to reach .500 for the first time since before play began on Opening Day, the obvious hope is that this is the type of win that can put some wind in Atlanta’s sails (no pun intended).