If you were looking for Chris Sale to make you forget all about his disastrous first start of the season, Thursday afternoon didn't begin well.
First, he walked Matt Vierling on just four pitches. Then, he followed that up by doing the same thing to Javier Baez, whose career .301 OBP was a reminder that he's not exactly the easiest person to walk, much less on four pitches.
Sale kicked at the mound a few times in frustration after the two free passes and got a quick mound visit from pitching coach Dave Bush.
Then, as if the two walks never happened, Sale got things figured out. In succession, he fanned Riley Greene, Spencer Torkelson and Hall of Famer-to-be Miguel Cabrera, extricating himself from a potentially messy first inning.
And really, the inning served as a sort of metaphor for Sale this season.
Finally healthy at the start of a season for the first time since 2019, Sale is not only up against opponents early this season. He's also doing battle with expectations.
After making just 11 starts over the last three seasons combined, fans are expecting Sale to turn back the clock and pitch the way he did in 2017 or 2018. They want the double-digit strikeout games and the wipeout slider and the patented death stare on the mound, and they want them now. And when there's even the hint of trouble -- like the seven runs scored against him last weekend, or the two quick walks in the first -- the groaning begins.
What's the excuse now? Is he hurt again? This guy's washed up.
On the one hand, the impatience is understandable. Sale has delivered very little bang for the buck since signing his infamous contract extension in March of 2019, and fans feel the lefty owes something to everyone -- to the franchise, to the teammates, to the fans.
Life doesn't work that way, and neither does baseball. Sale is not a automaton. He's a human being, as the laundry list of injuries over the last few seasons serve to remind. He can't simply flip a switch and be the dominant force he was when the Red Sox first traded for him. That's simply not realistic.
And so, there will be challenges along the way. There will be games like Saturday, when he couldn't locate with any precision and his pitches were hit hard. There will be inning like the first one Thursday, when his delivery isn't completely in sync and Sale can't find the strike zone.
People may want his best now, but it's going to take time.
"He made some adjustments throughout,'' said Alex Cora of his starter. "We talked before the game, and it's kind of like step-by-step, you know?''
Even within Thursday's start, there were peaks and valley. There were the three strikeouts that followed the two walks in the first. In the the third, there were three straight singles that produced another run, followed by a stretch that saw Sale retire seven of the next eight hitters he faced with the only baserunner the result of a throwing error on a routine ground ball to Kiké Hernandez. The final three outs of the afternoon were all strikeouts, sending Sale to the clubhouse on an outing-ending high.
When his five innings were complete, on 74 pitches, Sale had allowed three runs on four hits to go along with three walks and seven strikeouts. Some good, some bad.
Up and down, to and fro. This is Chris Sale's life for now.
The broken rib has healed, and so has the broken wrist and the broken pinky. The once balky elbow, surgically repaired more than three years ago, is now an afterthought. Sale has remarked, only half-jokingly, that his valuable left arm, in storage for most of the last three years, is now three years younger than the rest of his 34-year-old body.
But it is not that easy. Yes, he is a free of pain, and he has built up arm strength following a normal offseason and a spring uninterrupted by injury. But it will take time for him to regain his command, his feel for pitching.
In time, the hope is that he can again locate with precision, that he'll be able to dot the zone with fastball and pinpoint his slider and changeup just out of hitters' reach.
Those skills don't return overnight, however. He cannot pitch as though all the roadblocks he has had to endure and detours he has had to take the last three years didn't take place. There are no shortcuts to take.
Like it or not, this will take time.
On Thursday, while he was far sharper than he was in his first start, the stuff wavered some. While he occasionally touched 95-96 mph with his fastball, some he threw were 91-92 mph. Sometimes, he left his breaking pitch over the middle of the plate, making them an inviting target.
If Sale is to reclaim his place as one of game's true aces -- no guarantee there, given the time lost and his advancing age -- he will have to work his way, via muscle memory, to more precision. He will need to make fewer mistakes. He will have to regain his touch.
"It's a step in the right direction,'' concluded Cora.
"It's all a work in progress,'' added Sale."But all in all, just a good day.''
He thanked his bullpen, his lineup and his defense for the help. He's not ready to do it by himself.
Not yet, anyway.