Where have we seen this before?
Chris Sale....returning from a stint on the IL...on the mound at Fenway....facing the Baltimore Orioles.
It was only a month ago, of course. On Aug. 12, Sale, having completed an arduous rehab from Tommy John surgery performed in March of 2020, made his 2021 debut against the Orioles. There was much anticipation in the air, and the Sox viewed his return as a key to their playoff chances over the final two months.
That start was triumphant as Sale allowed two runs over five innings, ramping up expectations as to what he might be able to provide the Sox.
But last week, that was all derailed for a bit as Sale tested positive for COVID, sending him to MLB's COVID-IL and costing him a start on the team's demanding six-game trek to Chicago and Seattle.
True, Sale's second return came just 11 days after his previous one on Labor Day -- the infamous "sun ball'' debacle against Labor Day -- but still, some uncertainty hung in the air as Sale took the mound.
How would he respond to not having had any competition in the last week and a half? Would he face fatigue? Would his control or command suffer?
Turns out that the answer to all of those queries was the same: No.
It was, in many ways, the same Sale. He snapped at home plate umpire Bill Miller in the top of the first on what he believed to be a blown ball-strike call. He uncoiled like a cobra in his delivery and flung his fastball and his slider and his changeup, and after five innings and 79 pitches, his return to work was complete.
"I felt like I was making another rehab start with a new team,'' joked Sale after he and the Red Sox had disposed of the Orioles, 7-1. "It was kind of weird, not being around and doing all of my baseball activity at the house. It was different, for mid-season, I guess. But I got all the work I needed to get in. It worked out well.'.'
That included a portable pitching mound, lent to him by Babson College, so that Sale could throw freely, in the privacy -- and, importantly -- isolation of his own backyard, including a six-inning simulated game.
"I made do,'' said Sale. "I've been in worse situations.''
Returning to competition against actual hitters, his fastball lacked its usual bite, and that resulted in Sale recording 10 of his 15 outs on the ground. And here's the stat that leaps off the page: one lonely strikeout in five innings. But Sale maintained that inducing weak contact wasn't part of any gameplan.
"It's just kind of how the game played out,'' Sale shrugged. "My fastball wasn't really jumping out of my hand tonight so I really had to rely on my secondary pitches. I was leaning on my defense to make some plays. It's just kind of game how the game played out.''
With just over two weeks to go in the season, the Red Sox will now look to maximize Sale's contributions, Tanner Houck has been shifted to the bullpen thanks to a run of off-days in the schedule. In turn, however, that will require Sale to go back to pitching on four days' rest; until now, the Sox had taken every opportunity to provide him with an extra day of recovery time.
With the finish line in sight, Sale is ready for the workload.
"I'm very confident (I can handle that),'' he said. "It's what we do. It's what we're supposed to do. We've been getting some extra days, but this is more normal, what I'm used to (pitching every five days). These are big games coming up. They're all big games, but down the stretch, we've got to make a final push to break the seal and get into the postseason. So it's all hands on deck and whatever they need, I'll give it to them.''
Playing out the remainder of the schedule, Sale could start three more times, including Game No. 162 on the final day of the season.
"There's nothing more I want than to win a World Series,'' said Sale. "Everyone knows it's a crapshoot, man. You just gotta get in. No one knows what's going to happen once those lights flick on. I think we've seen that -- you just get in, catch a hot streak, and you look up and you're lifting up a trophy. So, it's all hands on deck. We're all pulling from the same rope. We all have the same vision -- and that's playing, winning and getting to the postseason. So, whatever that takes, it takes and that's what we'll do.''