After spending more than two months on the injured list, Atlanta left-hander Chris Sale is expected to return Saturday evening when the Braves continue their four-game road series against the Philadelphia Phillies.
Sale (5-4, 2.52 ERA) was having a productive season before he suffered a fractured rib on June 18. The reigning National League Cy Young Award winner has 114 strikeouts in 89 1/3 innings this season and has allowed more than three earned runs only once in 15 starts.
That lone rocky outing came against the Phillies on April 8, when he allowed five runs and nine hits in 4 2/3 innings. Atlanta won 7-5. Sale is 2-2 with a 4.50 ERA in six lifetime starts against Philadelphia.
In last week’s start at Triple-A — his third rehab outing — Sale gave up one run with five strikeouts in 4 2/3 innings. He threw 77 pitches and left Braves manager Brian Snitker optimistic that he’d be ready to come off the 60-day injured list Saturday.
“That’s the hope,” Snitker said that day. “We’ll see how he feels tomorrow. He’s been throwing a lot and feels good. So that shouldn’t be a problem.”
Sale certainly will be challenged by one of the best hitters in baseball in Kyle Schwarber. The Philadelphia designated hitter belted four home runs in Thursday’s series opener and then had a hit, a walk and two runs scored in Friday’s 2-1 triumph.
Alec Bohm delivered the go-ahead sacrifice fly in the eighth inning Friday as Philadelphia improved to 7-4 in its season series with Atlanta.
“Nights like last night aren’t typically what you’re going to see in a playoff-type of game, right?” Bohm said, referring to the Phillies’ seven-homer attack on Thursday. “So being able to just stay in a game all the way through the end and find a way to win in the end — play good defense, pitch well and get timely hits — that’s kind of what playoff baseball is about.”
Bryce Elder logged seven terrific innings on Friday for Atlanta, while Matt Olson had three hits in a losing effort. The Braves are 28-41 on the road, and they’re 2-3 on their current 10-game trek.
“If you’ve got a game to play, you can do something good for yourself in this business,” Snitker said.
The Phillies on Saturday will give the ball to Cristopher Sanchez (11-5, 2.66 ERA), who is coming off one of his worst outings of the season. The left-hander gave up six runs on eight hits in 5 1/3 innings in a 13-3 loss to the New York Mets on Monday.
Sanchez particularly will be attentive to his changeup on Saturday as he looks to improve on his previous performance.
“For the whole season, this was my worst outing when it comes to the changeup,” Sanchez said. “We could all see that.”
Sanchez has faced the Braves once this season — a 5-4 win on May 29 in which he received a no-decision despite allowing just two runs over 5 2/3 innings. He is still seeking his first career win against Atlanta, as he enters this matchup 0-3 with a 4.11 ERA in six lifetime appearances (five starts) vs. the Braves.
–Field Level Media
