Chris Sale Overcomes Ailment to Dazzle for Braves in Win

Chris Sale was adamant about getting back on the mound Wednesday. It didn't matter if he couldn't keep anything down. The Atlanta Braves needed a solid day from their ace, and he was eager to be the one to deliver.

Manager Walt Weiss would have been happy if he had gotten three innings out of him. At best, maybe four.

"He was a mess," Weiss said. "And was touch and go before the game."

Instead, all the separated Sale from a bid for a perfect through six innings was a single swing by Shea Langeliers. The Braves were able to ride his strong start to a 5-1 win over the Athletics to claim another series win early in the year.

Sale pitched six innings of one-run ball, allowing just the solo shot. No free passes. Three players were sat down on strikes. The velocity was down a bit. His fastball averaged 92.5 mph, nearly four miles per hour lower than in his opening day start, and topped out at 96.1 mph.

Naturally, there was some more emphasis on his breaking pitches. The changeup was utilized a bit more specifically. None of this is too surprising. He's trying to overcome some form of illness.

Nothing about the over state line was out of character. Based on the numbers alone, it was Chris Sale being Chris Sale. What happened behind the scenes only said more about his grit.

"The Hall of Famers are just - they just operate differently, and that's what he is," Weiss said. "It was an unbelievable performance. Considering the circumstances and, you know, in an early game too, on regular rest, all of those things. He's a warrior."

To his credit, he found a way. That being said, the humble-as-ever Sale gave much of the credit to sophomore catcher Drake Baldwin for helping him work through it.

For the most part, Sale felt his stuff was where is needed to be, apart from one thing, and Baldwin was able to figure out how to navigate it.

"That's called having a damn good catcher back there," Sale said. "You know, you could see it in my pregame bullpen that my stuff wasn't - my stuff was actually pretty good. The shape of all my stuff was exactly how I wanted it. Changeup, breaking ball, everything. It just didn't have the same hop to it today. I think [Baldwin] noticed that early on and, you know, used that to our advantage."

Sale has led the charge, as the rotation has looked solid out of the gate. Four outings have featured a starter who has allowed one earned run or fewer so far this year.

"We're not going to hang our hat on it yet. You know, one week in, but, you know, we'll take it. We want to build off that. We don't want to get too lackadaisical. I think that's just how it's going to be, because this is baseball, you know how it can go. But to be able to get off on the right foot is huge."

The Braves will head west for the first time this season. It'll play a major role in their bounce back. Last year, they lost all seven games out west to start. It's anywhere but up, but they have the wind in their sails (no pun intended) heading into their series in Arizona against the Diamondbacks.

That series will get underway starting at 9:40 p.m. on Thursday. Reynaldo López will make his second start of the season.