Shoulder ache sidelines Sale
Instead of adding a pitcher at the trade deadline, the Red Sox lost one.
In a surprise announcement shortly after the 4 p.m. non-waiver deadline yesterday, Chris Sale was placed on the 10-day disabled list with mild left shoulder inflammation retroactive to July 28.
Sale will miss his scheduled start tomorrow when the Sox begin a four-game series with the Yankees at Fenway Park. Brian Johnson will pitch in Sale’s place.
Sale was frustrated he had to miss a start but confident it is not a long-term issue. He said if tomorrow was a playoff game, he would be pitching. The Red Sox will not send him for an MRI.
“We’re not hiding anything. This is nothing we’re worried about,” Sale said. “This is a concern at most. This is not something I thought, or anybody thought, was necessary to get an MRI. Just a little soreness in your pitching arm. Take some Advil, get it rubbed down and be ready to go.”
Sale is hopeful he will make his next scheduled start at home against the Blue Jays next week.
It’s an untimely injury for the staff ace, who is in the middle of a brilliant stretch in which he’s allowed just one run in his last 39 innings, striking out 67 and walking six.
“I’m not too worried about this,” Sale said. “I know that we’re the Boston Red Sox and all this other stuff, but I’m not too worried about it. I’m very optimistic that this is going to be a very short stint on the DL. But, you know, with it being the DL people get kind of antsy. But I’m not worried about it at all.”
Sale said the soreness is located in the same area in his shoulder that he generally gets sore, but the soreness built up this time. The 29-year-old hasn’t been on the DL since 2015, when he fractured his foot. He has never missed time due to shoulder inflammation.
President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said the team wondered if the new grip on his slider played a role in the injury, but Sale debunked that idea.
“No, I don’t think it has anything to do with grips or mechanics or anything like that,” he said. “I’m just a pitcher. Sometimes we have to deal with it.”
The injury comes in a season when the Sox have been extra careful with their ace, giving him less work in spring training, fewer things to do between starts and watching his pitch count. He threw almost 200 fewer pitches this year than in his first 20 starts last year.
The extra rest allowed Sale to unleash his pitches with more velocity. His average fastball is 96 mph, a career-best as a starter, and he’s touched 101 this year.
Dombrowski said the training staff told him the extra velocity has not led to Sale’s shoulder injury.