Early on it looked like Chris Sale was in for another long day at the office.
Coming off a disastrous season debut in which he allowed seven runs over three innings, Sale was all over the place at the start of his second go-around Thursday in Detroit. He opened the game with eight straight balls, prompting an early mound visit from pitching coach Dave Bush, and in the second inning issued another four-pitch walk before immediately surrendering a towering two-run home run to Tigers catcher Jake Rogers.
Uh oh.
Things could have quickly snowballed from there, but to Sale’s credit he settled down and figured things out. His last three innings were much sharper than the first two, and he ultimately came away with his first win of the season after the offense rallied for a 6-3 Red Sox victory.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever thrown eight straight balls in my life. That was definitely interesting,” Sale said. “Credit to the mound visit, got three punchies after it so we’re rolling.”
Sale finished with three runs allowed on four hits over five innings, plus three walks and seven strikeouts. He only threw 46 of his 74 pitches for strikes, but from the third inning onwards he was 31 of 39 while recording all nine outs on four pitches or fewer.
Did he unlock something along the way?
“It was one of those things where I felt like the ball was coming out of my hand good, even the movement on some of my pitches I thought was good, just a couple of pitches were really bad, a couple were small misses. Just trying to find the zone,” Sale said. “You’re in a big league game, man. The game’s going fast, you’ve got to collect yourself and find a way to get out of it, and a couple of inspiring words and there we were.”
After missing almost all of 2022 due to injury Sale’s command and effectiveness will warrant close scrutiny, but Thursday was ultimately a step forward despite a highly concerning start.
He wasn’t the only one to get back on track.
After an ice cold finish to this past homestand the Red Sox offense found its mojo. Rafael Devers and Adam Duvall delivered the big hits, with Devers going 2-for-4 with a solo home run and an RBI double to tie the game in the fifth, and a few batters later Duvall smoked a three-run home run to put the Red Sox in front for good. Devers’ home run was the 141st of his career, surpassing Dustin Pedroia for 19th on the Red Sox all-time home run list.
Kiké Hernández also had an RBI fielder’s choice in the first, and Masataka Yoshida went 2-for-3 with a walk, a double and a run scored.
Sale benefitted from another strong performance by the bullpen as well, with John Schreiber, Chris Martin, Ryan Brasier and Kenley Jansen combining for four scoreless innings of relief. Jansen notched his first save in a Red Sox uniform to close out the win, sending the Tigers down 1-2-3 for a drama-free bottom of the ninth.
“Man, it feels awesome,” Jansen said of his first save. “First of many, hopefully I’ll keep doing great things and I’m looking forward to it.”
The Red Sox (3-4) are now off Friday and will be back in action Saturday at 4:10 p.m., when the club will look to get back to .500 and clinch the series against Detroit. Tanner Houck (1-0) is scheduled to take the hill for Boston, facing Detroit’s Joey Wentz (0-1).
