The Red Sox capped off a 6-3 victory against the Detroit Tigers today, after Chris Sale secured his first win turning after a shaky start. Sale had his struggles in his first start against the Orioles, where he gave up seven runs in three innings. But today’s start was different. While not perfect by any means, there was a glimmer of vintage Sale after he bounced back from a rocky first couple innings.
Chris Sale started today’s game by walking the first two batters. Sale continued to strike out the next three batters on some nasty sliders. The next inning, he walked Jonathan Schoop on four straight pitches, immediately followed by a two-run home run to Jake Rogers.
Sale gave up another run the next inning after an RBI single to Miguel Cabrera. He then went two more scoreless innings with some nasty movement and recorded three more strikeouts. There’s a trend here.
Chris Sale Secured the Win, But There is Still Room for Improvement.
Chris Sale’s control is the real issue here. When he can locate his fastball, it is borderline lethal. But when he can’t, it’s costly. His slider is still missing bats as it always has, so there’s no concern there. Sale managed to gather 10 swings and misses and a total of seven strikeouts in today’s win.
The velocity was down in today’s game, with Sale’s fastball hovering in the low 90’s. This may have also contributed to the runs, but it should be no concern considering he was touching 96 earlier in Spring. If he is able to start locating his fastball and changeup, we could see Sale start putting up some 2017-like numbers again.
Adam Duvall struck once again to today’s win, crushing a three-run home run in the sixth inning. Duvall is continuing to make a strong first impression in Boston, after his record setting series against Baltimore where he hit nine extra base-hits.
The offensive drought against the Pirates hopefully seems to be over. The Red Sox lineup put together some solid at-bats along with gathering seven hits. Masataka Yoshida recorded his first career double in the ninth inning, with a 105.7 mph rocket into right field. Overall, it was a solid win from the Sox with some kinks to still work out.
The Red Sox and Tigers will face off again in Detroit on Saturday at 4:10pm EST.
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