BOSTON — Through three years of setbacks and disappointments, Chris Sale got used to talking about bad news. Elbow surgery. A cracked rib. A broken finger. Sale experienced one letdown after another, and his fiery spark began to noticeably fizzle.
For the past month, though, it was back.
Through potent fastballs, wipeout sliders and a bunch of big-league strikeouts, the old Chris Sale returned. Excellent on the mound, energetic in the clubhouse, assertive in postgame interviews. When he struggled, he said so. When he dominated, he expected more.
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On Thursday night, all of that suddenly stopped again, and by Friday, Sale was back behind a microphone, talking about bad news. Before Friday’s rainout against the Rays (rescheduled for Monday, June 5 at 4:05 p.m.) the Red Sox placed him on the injured list with left shoulder inflammation, a description that is clearly a stand-in while they await a more definitive diagnosis.
“I hate feeling like this,” Sale said. “I started having fun playing baseball again, and now I’m back to not having fun, and that sucks.”
After a noticeable in-game velocity dip, Sale was pulled after just 59 pitches on Thursday. He’d thrown just 3 2/3 innings, and he was having trouble getting his fastball above 92 mph. Sale was light on the details but said he felt fine in the first inning — his fastball got up to 96 mph in that frame — before beginning to feel pain or soreness in the second, when most of his fastballs were closer to 93 mph. In the third inning, he never got above 92.5.
“I kind of felt it on one pitch (in the second inning) and then after that it just slowly kept creeping up,” Sale said. “The tolerance was not where I needed to be. I couldn’t finish pitches. I was raring back for 91. That’s just not it, ever.”
Sale will miss at least two starts. He said the issue seems less severe than the shoulder problem that caused him to miss most of the second half in 2018, but he stopped well short of true optimism. He said he’d already undergone an MRI and a CT scan but had more tests scheduled.
“This isn’t anything that’s going to require any procedure, I don’t think, or any of that kind of thing,” Sale said. “It’s just one of those that’s just going to take time. Again, I can’t really get too definitive because I don’t have anything too definitive. It’s not good sitting here talking about it, that’s for sure.”
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Corey Kluber, who had been on the Paternity List, was reinstated to take Sale’s spot on the roster (and potentially in the rotation going forward; the Red Sox did not immediately announce their rotation plans beyond Tanner Houck in the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader).
Sale, 34, had been one of the bright spots of this season. He’d thrown just 48 1/3 major-league innings the past three seasons and was perhaps rusty out of the gate (11.25 ERA in his first three starts) but since April 18 he’d pitched to a 2.87 ERA with 52 strikeouts and only eight walks. The Red Sox had won six of his past eight starts.
“I was kind of getting used to sitting in front of you guys, talking about good stuff,” Sale said. “It’s been a rocky road. I felt like I was over the hump. I really did. I felt like I was back to being myself. So, when something like this happens, it’s deflating.”
Sale said everything in his elbow is fine — he had Tommy John surgery in 2020 — and that the Red Sox were stunned when he told them on Thursday that he was feeling discomfort in his shoulder. Although his velocity had dipped slightly in his previous start, the team dismissed that as a result of a stomach bug (and even then, Sale allowed just one run through five innings). Thursday’s performance, with mysteriously diminished pitches, was far more alarming. Sale said the experience of the past three years had taught him not to jump to conclusions or set early timetables, but his frustration was evident. Even so, Sale was defiant.
“I’ve been through this s— and back, and now I’m in the s— again,” he said. “And I’m going to be back.”
(Photo: Elsa / Getty Images)