TORONTO — It had been five long days for Chris Sale since he last left the mound. Eager to make amends for a shelling he absorbed in Cleveland last Thursday night, it felt as though his next start would never arrive.
When it did, the Toronto Blue Jays paid the price. The Jays hadn’t had much luck against Sale in two previous meetings this season, being blanked over 15 innings. An extra-motivated Sale made things that much tougher for them.
Sale’s outing was worth the wait for the Red Sox, even the down time in between outings felt interminable.
“It seemed like a month,’’ said Sale after seven shutout innings in a 3-0 victory over the Jays. “Anytime you go out there and have a bad one, you want to get right back out there. As a competitor, that’s what you want to do – you want to get back out there and right the ship.’’
Sale looked at video, attempting to discern some mechanical flaw to explain his seven runs in just three innings against the Indians at Progressive Field. What he discovered wasn’t very complicated – it was a matter of poor location, which will get a pitcher in trouble no matter the quality of his stuff.
So he sat and waited.
“Obviously you want to go back out there as fast as you can,’’ he said, “but time doesn’t move any slower or faster (because I want it to). Basically, you’re just wearing it until you get to go out there again.’’
It helped, perhaps, that Sale has had a great history against Toronto. Beyond the two scoreless outings this season, he had a career ERA of 1.68 against them. If the Indians represent his Kryptonite, the Jays are his patsies.
“I have the same confidence going in against this team, against that team,’’ maintained Sale. “It doesn’t matter who we’re facing, where I’m at. I strap it on the same way.’’
“That was a vintage Chris Sale outing that we’ve seen a lot of times this year,’’ said John Farrell. “He was powerful, he threw a lot of strikes. He got into a great groove. And every time we put a run on the board, he’d come up and put up and maintain the momentum by putting up a zero.’’
For seven innings, Sale found himself pitching out of the stretch just twice – in the second, after a one-out double by Kendrys Morales. He retired the first four hitters he faced, and after the double, the next 17 in succession.
To watch Sale pitch was to see someone settled into a comfortable rhythm, retiring one Blue Jay after another, perhaps taking out his frustration over last week with every out.
“That’s most of what pitching is – finding a groove,’’ said Sale, “riding it out as long as you can. You get in the windup, you stay in the windup. That’s basically where you want to be.
In the second, came a bit of a personal milestone. When Sale caught Kevin Pillar looking at a called third strike, it was his 1,500th career strikeout. Sale reached that plateau in 1,290 innings, quicker than anyone has before.
In the past, Sale has been quick to dismiss talk of personal statistics and achievements, but even he was impressed with this one.
“That’s pretty crazy,’’ he admitted. “This game’s been around a long time. To do that, it’s cool. I appreciate it. I try not to get too caught up in it, but I can definitely take a step back and appreciate it.’’
In the top of the eighth, the Sox had a long inning that produced another insurance run. But the idle time seemed to affect Sale when he went back out to the mound, having already thrown 105 pitches. He quickly gave up two hard-hit line drives – his first baserunners since the second inning – and was lifted for Addison Reed.
Reed then fanned two, and after yielding a single to load the bases, choked off the threat by getting an inning-ending forceout.
“I thought Reeder was huge,’’ said Sale. “I left him a friggin’ dumpster fire right there and he did a hell of a job getting us out of it.’’
The win was the second straight for the Red Sox, who seemed to have regained their equilibrium following a four-game skid.
“We’re getting back to where we want to be,’’ said Sale, who took no small part in leading them there, determined to make up for last time.