Sale grinds out ‘W’
Starter survives Sandoval, rough first in series finale
BALTIMORE — Pablo Sandoval’s calamitous first inning should have doomed the Red Sox. Instead, it set the stage for one of the most revealing starts of Chris Sale’s tenure.
Although the box score will claim Sale blew an early lead and allowed three first-inning runs, all in attendance knew better. Sandoval made nearly every kind of defensive mistake — a missed tag, a bad throw, a poor decision — in that dreadful frame, only to have Sale respond with a vintage performance on the mound and a standup performance in the clubhouse.
Sale didn’t allow another run, Andrew Benintendi snapped out of an extended slump with two home runs, and the Red Sox got their second straight win, 7-3 against the Baltimore Orioles. It was a win that pulled the Sox within two games of the first-place Yankees heading into their upcoming series in New York.
It was also a win that uncovered different sides of Sale: Not the overpowering ace, but a willing grinder. Not an in-your-face superstar, but a hyper-aware teammate.
“I don’t get mad at anybody out there other than myself,” Sale said. “And maybe an umpire once in a while.”
Given a two-run lead before he took the mound, Sale put two of the first three batters on, but an Orioles double-steal attempt should have been an easy out. Catcher Sandy Leon’s throw to third base beat Joey Rickard by several feet, but Sandoval’s casual tag was beaten by Rickard’s nifty slide.
Sale struck out the next batter (which would have been the third out of the inning) before Chris Davis followed with a two-run, gametying single into left field.
Given a chance to at least keep the game tied at 2, Sale next induced a routine ground ball to third. Instead of going to first base for the out — manager John Farrell acknowledged that was the proper play — Sandoval looked to second where Deven Marrero was not yet covering. Sandoval threw there anyway, Davis beat the play, and the throw skittered into right field.
Again, it should have been the third out, and again the Orioles followed with a run-scoring hit. By the time Sale ended the inning with his third strikeout, he’d thrown 39 pitches.
“I really had to kind of refocus after that and not let the emotions get the best of me,” Sale said. “Not only that, we’re still in it. Cashing in after the first is going to be a long day. Just having the confidence in my team behind me to go out there and just kind of keep pitching knowing that at some point in the game we’re going to score again.” They did, indeed. The Orioles’ own defensive blunder — a bad throw by catcher Francisco Pena to third base that plated two runs — combined with Benintendi’s first three-RBI game since Opening Day put the Red Sox back in front with room to spare.
As for Sale? No more runs. No more walks. Just three more hits with nine total strikeouts. That inflated pitch count held him to six innings, tied for his secondshortest outing of the year, but this was a vintage performance after a rocky start.
“On a day when his competitive spirit needed to come out, it was there,” Farrell said.
On the field, maybe, but not in the locker room, where Sale did the opposite of throw Sandoval under the bus. Sale instead found a way to credit Sandoval with shifting momentum.
“Mistakes are going to happen in this game,” he said. “That’s part of it. But, for me, I really wanted to pick him up right there and kind of break through that and have some momentum going into the next inning. I wasn’t able to do that.
“But the thing that was even bigger for me to see was Pablo’s next at-bat after all that happened. He didn’t hang his head. He wasn’t pouting about it. He came up with a plan, ready to go, and he ripped a double in the gap. I think that speaks a lot about who he is, his character, and the kind of teammate he is. When you see something like that, it lifts you up a little bit. And I think it got our team going in the right direction.”
In every other first inning this season, Sale had allowed just one hit and no runs. This game was different. It revealed a pitcher capable of gathering himself, taking the blame and distributing the credit.
“I stumbled out of the gate,” Sale said. “Tried to stay with it as best I could, and my guys behind me picked me up. Three in the first inning after we scored two, that kind of deflates us a little bit. That’s on me. For them to come back and put four more runs up after that, that says a lot about our team and the guys we have in here.”