LISTEN: ESPN Insider Talks About Chris Sale's Mindset

After striking out 11 Minnesota Twins batters last week, we thought that Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Chris Sale had turned a corner.

As it turned out, it was a temporary reminder of what he used to be, because he went five innings against the Baltimore Orioles this week, allowing five runs and failing to record a strikeout.

Sale was visibly frustrated during the performance and then took his frustrations out on the water cooler in the dugout. After the game, Sale seemed frustrated and dejected at his performance. This continues a pattern of frustration since Sale came back from Tommy John surgery in 2021. ESPN MLB Insider Buster Olney recently spoke on 'The Brady Farkas Show' on WDEV Radio about Sale's attitude and mindset.

You can listen to the full clip below but here is a partial transcript:

"It was about ten days ago when I was texting back and forth with someone in their organization, saying 'he needs to stop beating up on himself so badly. Because it's not lip service when he talks. If you've been around him enough, you know that he's wearing this. He's feeling the responsibility of having this big, long-term contract, the highest-paid guy before Rafael Devers on this team, and he's trying to live up to the whole of the contract with each outing..."

Sale's current statline for the season reads as 1-1 with an 8.22 ERA in 23 innings.

For his career, he's 115-76 with a 3.10 ERA. One of the most dominant pitchers of his era, he's a seven-time all-star who has six different top-5 Cy Young finishes.

Unfortunately, injuries have taken a major toll on Sale in the last few years. He missed all of 2020 with Tommy John surgery and spent most of 2021 recovering. He had a health issue that made him miss the early portion of 2022 and then was hit by the line drive, broke a finger and missed the rest of the season.

All told, he had thrown just over 48 innings since 2019 prior to this season.

The Red sox are currently 13-13 on the season and will start a series with the Cleveland Guardians tonight at 7:10 p.m. ET.

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