Sale past illness, ready for Game 1
After recovering from ‘stomach illness,’ Sale set to open Series for Red Sox at Fenway
BOSTON — Red Sox left-hander Chris Sale rather would talk about the ring he can win as a World Series champion instead of the almost-certainly nonexistent navel ring that — he maintains with a straight face — scratched him from a start in the previous round of the playoffs.
The former White Sox ace will belly up to the mound to start Game 1 of the Series on Tuesday against the Dodgers, 10 days after his last outing and nine after he was hospitalized with what the Red Sox called a ‘‘stomach illness.”
Sale joked — we think — that it was from a piercing gone bad, and he kept up the ruse Monday.
‘‘I’m not going to spill all of my secrets,’’ he said.
Left-hander Clayton Kershaw is scheduled to start for the Dodgers, giving baseball a matchup of marquee southpaws from a pair of iconic franchises at two of the oldest ballparks in the majors.
The Red Sox, who won a franchise-record 108 games and their third consecutive American League East crown, are going for their fourth Series title in 15 seasons; the Dodgers, who lost to the Astros in the Series last season, will be trying for their first championship since 1988.
‘‘It’s going to be rocking; this place is going to be obviously going crazy,’’ Sale said, referring to Fenway Park. ‘‘We’ve all been waiting for this. And our fans, too.’’
Sale didn’t miss a start through the end of July, when he went on the disabled list with what the Red Sox called ‘‘mild left shoulder inflammation.’’ He came back for one start
in August but then shut it down again as the Red Sox, who had a double-digit lead in the division, coasted into the playoffs.
After sitting out a month, he threw 26, 42, 73 and 92 pitches in four September starts to rebuild his arm strength for the postseason. He won Game 1 of the AL Division Series against the Yankees and came on in relief in the Game 4 clincher, then got knocked around in the opener of the AL Championship Series against the Astros.
During Game 2, the Red Sox announced that he had been hospitalized. That forced him to rejoin his teammates after the series moved to Houston and pushed him back in the rotation from the fifth to the sixth game.
Sale insisted he was prepared to gut it out, but the Red Sox clinched in five, thanks to the pitching of left-hander David Price and a three-run home run by Rafael Devers.
‘‘Obviously, D.P. and Devers and everybody else had a different way of going about it,’’ Sale said. ‘‘Having these extra few days has been nice to be able to get back on that routine, get a little more normalcy back into it. Getting my strength back. Got back to doing some things that made me successful in the past.’’
Kershaw is a three-time NL Cy Young Award winner who has been among the top five in the voting in each of the last seven seasons. In 2014, he was the NL most valuable player. He said he’s glad to be facing Sale in Boston, where the pitchers won’t be batting.
‘‘Probably wouldn’t have been a good matchup for me,’’ he said.
Sale said he is back to 100 percent and deflected questions about the illness that melted even more weight away from his 6-6, 180-pound frame. But his comment about the belly-button ring has exploded like the infected wound he is pretending to have.
Red Sox utility infielder Brock Holt said he would get a nipple or belly-button ring if the Red Sox win it all. Second baseman Ian Kinsler said it might become a trend.
‘‘I’ll get any type of ring if we do it,’’ Kinsler said. ‘‘If we can get four wins, we might all be walking around with nipple rings or belly-button rings, whatever it may be.’’
Sale, wearing what appeared to be the same gray T-shirt he has sported all through the postseason, said he wasn’t surprised.
‘‘Hey, that’s what I do,’’ he said. ‘‘Fashionista, I guess.’’
He was joking again. We think.