Left-hander Chris Sale of the Atlanta Braves put collectively one of many extra particular performances of the 12 months on Thursday, firing a complete-game shutout in opposition to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Sale was firing on all cylinders all through the sport, permitting solely 5 hits to the Dodgers’ usually sturdy offense. The efficiency from Sale was in a position to assist the Braves full the sweep over the defending champions, serving to them get again into playoff positioning within the Nationwide League.
The 1-0 win confirmed how shut margins might be because the common season begins to wind down, however the Braves relied on their ace to return by. Sale did this and extra, giving Atlanta a gem of a efficiency once they wanted it most.
Following the dominant outing, Sale’s identify has began to generate extra buzz across the NL Cy Younger Award. Whereas Jacob Misiorowski of the Milwaukee Brewers is probably going nonetheless the favourite, Sale’s efficiency has seen his standing rise.
Can Chris Sale Catch Jacob Misiorowski for NL Cy Younger?
MLB analyst Erik Kratz spoke about Sale’s efficiency and bid for the Cy Younger Award throughout a phase on Foul Territory.
“I simply don’t see how he doesn’t find yourself a top-three Cy Younger Award candidate this 12 months. If it wasn’t for Misiorowski, and the sort of efficiency in late August may have pushed him to win the Cy Younger,” Kratz stated.
There are nonetheless a number of weeks left within the common season, so Sale may technically catch the Brewers ace. However he would want to place collectively extra performances like this, whereas seeing Misiorowski falter just a little.
Right here is how the 2 arms stack up proper now:
Sale: 13-9, 2.06 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, 144.0 innings pitched, 177 strikeouts
Misiorowski: 14-5, 1.73 ERA, 0.75 WHIP, 151.0 innings pitched, 222 strikeouts
It is going to be powerful for Sale to match the dominance that Misiorowski has put collectively this 12 months, but it surely’s potential.
Chris Sale Impresses Braves Teammates
Sale’s teammates couldn’t imagine what they witnessed from the ace, with catcher Drake Baldwin commenting on the sport. Baldwin drove within the sport’s solely run, hitting a leadoff dwelling run to open the scoring.
“That’s most likely one of many prime two pitching performances I’ve seen throughout my time within the huge leagues,” Baldwin stated. “From pitch one, he was simply locked in and executing pitches. It’s fairly unbelievable.”
Braves supervisor Walt Weiss trusted his ace to complete the job in an enormous sport in opposition to the NL rivals. Weiss had a sense that one thing particular was going to occur. Giving his left-hander the grace wanted to finish the sport.
“The look in his eye is at all times fairly fairly good, but it surely was even just a little bit totally different tonight,” Weiss stated.
Because the Braves look forward, Sale will have to be on his A-game for this crew down the stretch. Atlanta is battling with the Dodgers, Brewers, and Chicago Cubs for the top-two spots within the NL standings.
Atlanta now has the tiebreaker over the Dodgers after sweeping them this collection, giving them a possible edge down the road. However the job isn’t completed but, and Atlanta nonetheless has loads of work to do earlier than the playoffs begin.
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