The home run was sub-optimal, but Chris Sale can live with it. What drives him crazy is when he just gives bases away.
On Monday against the Phillies, Sale didn't look like himself. The big blow was a three-run homer off a hanging slider to Aaron Altherr. But Sale found himself far more chafed by three walks and two hit batsmen.
"One thing that really pisses me off is command," Sale said. "Walking guys, hitting guys with breaking balls. That kind of stuff can't happen. That's stupid stuff that kind of gets in the way. Those are the things that kill you: walks and hit by pitches. At least when they're hitting the ball, they're earning it. You'll never know if you're walking them. Command is the one that kind of gets me the most."
Command is Sale's bread-and-butter. He's strikeout-to-walk ratio of 5.12-to-1 is the highest in history and he's coming off a season when he struck out over 300 batters while walking only 43. But on Monday, he consistently struggled to command his slider, curveball and even changeup. His 96 mph was fine, but with so much focus on his secondary offerings, his final numbers were only so-so: five innings, five hits, four runs, three walks, six strikeouts.
"You want to get better," Sale said. "You're out there competing. My off-speed stuff wasn't what it's usually been. My command was a little off today, but you're going to have days like that you're going to have to find a way to get through it. It's better to have those days down here and work out the kinks and get better from that. I'm sure we'll address it in the next couple of days."
With 10 days until the start of the season, Sale will make only one more spring start before presumably taking the hill in Tampa on opening day.
"When you go out there and struggle, you've got to compete," Sale said. "You can't just go out there and flip stuff in there. There's a purpose to every pitch. I got burned today on a couple bad pitches. We'll go back, look at it, and see what we can do to fix it."
