The good news is that Chris Sale can still be a stopper -- that pitcher who steps onto the mound after his team has lost three straight and puts up zeros to get them back in the win column.
The bad news is that the Red Sox are in the middle of a late-season playoff race and required said stopper.
This is not the time you want to be looking for ways to bounce back from a sweep. Especially not when it comes at the hands of your archrival, a Yankees team Boston is now looking up at in the standings. And especially not when it’s the Red Sox’ third losing streak of three games or more in the last three weeks.
That was the Red Sox’ reality Friday night, however. Yes, playing the Rangers -- the team with the third-worst record in baseball -- helped, just like playing the league-worst Orioles helped last weekend.
But nothing can be taken for granted with this Red Sox team right now, and Friday night’s win was not a given. Halfway through, it was a two-run game. Then the offense finally came alive and turned it into a fairly comfortable 6-0 win.
Sale needed to be good early. He needed to build off his encouraging first start of the season last weekend. He was and he did.
The Red Sox ace shut the Rangers down through five strong innings, scattering five hits and one walk while striking out five. He is now 2-0 with a 1.80 ERA in his two starts since returning from Tommy John surgery.
Sale threw 10 of his 11 first-inning pitches for strikes and dialed his fastball up to 94 for a pair of swinging strikeouts. He later touched 95 while painting the inside corner to get Adolis Garcia looking.
A walk and a single in the second put him in a minor bind, but he got out of that. He stranded two more runners in the fourth with the Red Sox holding onto a 2-0 lead. In the fifth, he responded to a leadoff single by getting old friend Brock Holt to ground into a double play.
The Red Sox offense finally provided some breathing room in the bottom of the fifth, with a Xander Bogaerts home run and Alex Verdugo two-run double extending Boston’s lead to 5-0. That allowed Alex Cora to exercise a little load management and pull Sale after 71 pitches.
"There’s more in the tank. We know that," Cora said after the game. "I think the more repetitions he gets, the more he gets used to this environment -- nothing against playing minor-league games, but it’s not the same thing. The competition and the preparation, it takes a toll. I think he’s going to keep getting better. … We’re very pleased with where he’s at. We know that at one point, we’re just going to let him go and he will contribute.”
The final score shows a comfortable win over a bad team, which is exactly what it should have been and ultimately was. It could have been a different story with a poor start, though. How would the Red Sox have responded if they followed up that Yankees sweep by falling behind early?
Fortunately for them, Sale had no interest in finding out the answer. He may still be building back up and finding his game a bit (it was just his second major league start in two years, after all), but he’s also already reclaiming his place as Boston’s ace and stopper.
The Red Sox won’t be able to afford to put Sale or any other starter in the position to be a “stopper” much more this season. They need to string together some wins here, especially with their next three series all against non-playoff teams. If Sale has to be a stopper again the next turn through the rotation, something has really gone horribly wrong.
For now, the Red Sox are very much still in the playoff race, sitting a half game back of Oakland for the second wild card spot.
They desperately needed some hope and optimism to return, though, and that’s what Sale gave them at Fenway Park Friday night.
"That’s what I’m here to do," Sale said. "I’m here to win games. Obviously I understand where I’m coming from. Last couple years, I had surgery on my arm. I’m coming back. I just got out of a rehab assignment and now I’ve got two starts in the big leagues. But I’ve never really thought about it like that. I have a job here to do and my job is to win games. Especially given the circumstances, obviously we didn’t play well in New York. That series got away from us. To be able to come here and post up and get us on the right track, that’s my job. That’s what I’m supposed to do."
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