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Braves' Chris Sale Showed Off Incredible Reflexes With Catch of 104-mph Batted Ball

Tim Capurso|
Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Chris Sale catches a ball off the bat of San Francisco Giants infielder Casey Schmitt during a game at Oracle Park in San Francisco, California on August 13, 2024.
Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Chris Sale catches a ball off the bat of San Francisco Giants infielder Casey Schmitt during a game at Oracle Park in San Francisco, California on August 13, 2024. | Screengrab Twitter @Braves

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Atlanta Braves

Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Chris Sale showed off his cat-like reflexes during Monday's start against the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park. In the midst of a classic pitchers' duel against the Giants' Blake Snell (more on that in a moment), Sale made one of the defensive plays of the year.

Facing Giants infielder Casey Schmitt with two outs and the basepaths clear, Sale delivered a fastball for strike one, then pounded the zone once again with his heater, an offering that Schmitt ripped right back to Sale. With a nanosecond to react, Sale stuck his glove out and snagged the 104-mph liner.

That has to be one of the toughest plays for a pitcher, but Sale, in a look-what-I-found-sort-of-way, made it look easy.

Sale, who did not factor into the decision, pitched seven shutout innings, allowing just three hits while striking out 12. On the other side, Snell, who has come out of the All-Star break dealing, tossed 6 1/3 shutout frames, yielding just a pair of hits while punching out 11 batters.

Sale and Snell became just the fourth pair of pitchers to record more than 10 strikeouts and allow three hits or fewer in the same game, according to Sarah Slangs of MLB.com.

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Tim Capurso
TIM CAPURSO

Tim Capurso is a staff writer for Sports Illustrated, primarily covering MLB, college football and college basketball. Before joining SI in November 2023, Capurso worked at RotoBaller and ClutchPoints and is a graduate of Assumption University. When he's not working, he can be found at the gym, reading a book or enjoying a good hike. A resident of New York, Capurso openly wonders if the Giants will ever be a winning football team again.

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