Chris Sale left Truist Park with another milestone in hand and Atlanta with a 3-2, 10-inning walk-off win over Cincinnati on Wednesday night. More importantly, the Braves now have their veteran left-hander positioned for Game 1 of the National League Wild Card Series on Tuesday.
| Game | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reds | 2 | — | — |
| Braves | 3 | — | — |
| Chris Sale | IP | ER | SO | Pitches | Season ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| vs. Reds | 5 2/3 | 1 | 10 | 97 | 2.16 |
Sale allowed a first-pitch jolt when Juan Brito led off the game with a home run, then shut Cincinnati down for the rest of his outing. His 10 strikeouts pushed him to 200 for the season, giving him a ninth career season at that threshold.
That puts Sale alongside Randy Johnson as the only left-handed pitchers in Major League history with nine or more 200-strikeout campaigns. Only Nolan Ryan, Johnson, Roger Clemens and Tom Seaver have accumulated more.
A sixth-inning sendoff
The Braves had mapped out a shorter assignment with October around the corner. Sale was expected to work roughly five innings, but he finished the fifth sitting on 199 strikeouts. Atlanta gave him one more inning to chase the round number.
After Elly De La Cruz opened the sixth with a flyout, Sale got Sal Stewart looking at a 3-2 pitch for No. 200. The called third strike appeared close to the inside edge, but it gave the ballpark its moment.
Manager Walt Weiss came out to take the ball, with Atlanta’s infielders gathering around the mound as Sale departed to a loud ovation. Brooks & Dunn’s “Hard Workin’ Man” played over the sound system for a pitcher whose season has become one of the franchise’s finest.
“It’s remarkable what he’s doing at this point in his career,” Weiss said. “His velocity may be as good as, or better than, it was at any time in his career as a starter. Considering the injuries he went through during those Boston years and the way he came back, he’s a marvel. Really special.”
Company in Atlanta history
Sale, 37, finished the regular season with a 2.16 ERA. Among qualified Major League pitchers, only Jacob Misiorowski at 1.86 and Cam Schlittler at 1.94 posted lower marks.
Within Braves history, only Greg Maddux in 1994 and 1995, Reynaldo López in 2024 and Warren Spahn in 1953 have recorded an ERA of 2.16 or better while making at least 25 starts in a season since 1920.
For pitchers age 37 or older since 1950, Sale joins only Justin Verlander and Clemens in posting an ERA of 2.20 or lower across 25-plus starts. Verlander recorded a 1.75 ERA in 2022, while Clemens finished at 1.87 in 2005; each struck out 185 hitters in those seasons.
Sale entered 2024 believing it might be his final season, then captured his first Cy Young Award. After injuries restricted him to 151 innings from 2021 through 2023, he has steadily strengthened over three seasons in Atlanta.
His final regular-season outing offered another sign that the arm remains lively. Sale’s four-seam fastball averaged 97.8 mph, matching his third-best average with that pitch in a start and equaling a level he had not reached since 2018. Four of his fastballs registered at least 99.5 mph.
The number that mattered Wednesday was 200. The assignment that matters next comes Tuesday, when Sale gets the ball first for Atlanta in the Wild Card Series.
