Braves Chris Sale Takes Major Step Toward Return in Second Rehab Start

The reigning Cy Young Award winner looked much closer to his usual self when he pitched for the Atlanta Braves' Triple-A affiliate

Once things clicked for Sale, they clicked | Brett Davis-Imagn Images

Following a shaky first inning, Chris Sale flipped the switch and dominated Louisville in his second rehab start with Gwinnett.

The Atlanta Braves lefty finished the day after four innings, allowing three hits and a walk while striking out four. All baserunners came in the first inning. After allowing three hits to start the game, a double play was turned to get the first two outs. 

Following a two-out walk, no other batter reached first base, sitting down the next 10 batters in a row to finish off his day. 

He threw 56 of the 60 planned pitches to throw. He was ready to pitch to another batter to see if he could get him out in four pitches, but the team decided against it. 

“You know, I’ve been away from this game for a couple months now, so I’ll take four more pitches wherever I can get them.”

Sale felt in between the first and second inning was when things started to click. He had a chance to slow things down and get going. 

“I was just getting going a little fast and really needed to kind of dial in my mechanics before I started getting after it,” he said. “I think everything in that first inning was just kind of up. Threw a lot of hittable pitches. I think once I dialed it back a little bit and kind of got into a rhythm and a little bit better into hitting better spots with my mechanics, it was much better.” 

He felt his body felt sound overall and felt better compared to when he last pitched on Tuesday. From a health perspective, the Braves can’t ask for much more. 

Sale is ramping back up as the Atlanta Braves are starting to get going. The Braves went into Sunday on a four-game winning streak and had won eight of their last 10 games. 

Seeing this has only made the reigning Cy Young Award winner more eager to get back in on the action. 

“It’s fun to watch, and that makes it more exciting to want to get back and help that,” he said. “It seemed like after the All-Star Break, it was kind of a breath of fresh air.” 

Sunday, overall, marks a good step in the right direction for Sale. In his previous start, he lasted two innings and required 40 pitches to get through those six outs. Any concerns that that would continue were quickly squashed. 

It’s not known yet if Sale will make another rehab start, which would require him to go on the road to Memphis, or if the Braves will activate him in a couple of days when he’s eligible.