On Sunday afternoon, Chris Sale made his first appearance since July 27th. Sale didn’t miss a beat in his 16 day absence. Sale pitched five shutout innings to lead the Boston Red Sox to a 4-1 win over the Baltimore Orioles at Camden Yards. Sale allowed one hit, while striking out 12 and not issuing a walk.
Sale threw 68 pitches (48 strikes). Manager Alex Cora announced after the game that Sale will next pitch on Sunday, August 19th against the Tampa Bay Rays at Fenway Park. The Red Sox will have two scheduled days off this coming week.
Steve Pearce got the scoring started with a first inning home run. JD Martinez and Jackie Bradley JR had two hits each. Bradley had one RBI and scored one run. Mookie Betts had one hit and reached base twice. The Red Sox bullpen allowed plenty of base runners (four hits and five walks) in four innings, but only one run came into score.
In Sale’s last seven starts he has allowed one earned run (0.20 ERA), six walks, 79 strikeouts. It is the lowest ERA in any seven game stretch since ERA became a recordable stat in 1913. He has gone 68 innings without allowing a home run and is on a 28 innings scoreless streak entering his start next Sunday. The Red Sox (85-35) are now 50 games over .500 for the first time since 1946. The Red Sox and Phillies will start a two game series of division leaders on Tuesday night with a RIck Porcello/Nick Pivetta pitching matchup scheduled.
