It was just like they drew it up.
The atmosphere. The ovation. The health. And, finally, the performance. Everything about Chris Sale's return to major league baseball after two years and one day was right on the money.
Sale, whose last outing with the Red Sox came on Aug. 13, 2019 in Cleveland, dominated a less-than-intimidating Orioles lineup Saturday afternoon. The lefty finished his five innings, giving up two runs on six hits while striking out eight and not walking a batter.
“It was different. I was excited, I was nervous, I had adrenaline. It was a lot of things," Sale said. "It felt like 150 bouncy balls in this room bouncing all over the place. The only thing I was trying to do was channel it and keep my composure and do what I had to do. In the past, typically I might try to go out there and do too much and I knew I just had to keep it under control, hit my spots, do what I needed to do and give my chance a team to win.”
The 33-year-old threw 89 pitches (60 strikes), throwing a fastball that topped out at 96 mph and averaged 93.3 mph. It was a two-seamer he threw 46 times, with the changeup serving as Sale's primary secondary pitch, offering it 25 times.
The only damage done against Sale came in the third inning when Austin Hays and Trey Mancini hit back-to-back homers.
Sale gave way to Hirokazu Sawamura with the Red Sox having already built a 14-2 lead.
“This was the end of the road basically," he said. "I said it today when I got to the field. I’m done driving on the dirt road. The rubber’s meeting the asphalt today. It was incredible. Nothing is going to beat pitching in the World Series. There will never be an energy like that, but for today, everything that went into it. It’s probably a close second to that. The time that I got to spend with my teammates after was probably the most special of all.”
He added, "When I stepped out of the dugout, I knew there was going to be something. I wasn’t expecting all that. I’m just trying to soak in moments. This isn’t going to last forever. Today was a special day for me and a lot of other people, and I wanted to recognize that, I wanted to feel it and I wanted to soak in as much as I could. Like I said, this game was ripped out of my hands. I had a hole in my chest for two years and I’ll be completely honest with you, I took days for granted. I’ve been a big leaguer for 11 years now and I took moments, I took days, I took weeks for granted. Through all of this, I’ve had a huge perspective change. I feel like — I’ll tell you one thing, I’m not wasting another damn day in my big league career. That’s just not going to happen. I’m just too much in a different spot. I’ve got too many people surrounding me that are unbelievable people that pushed me on a daily basis. I just try to appreciate things more and know what it means to people and what that would mean to other people, so just making it more meaningful.”
