Switched into 'go' mode, Sale K's five in second start

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- The feel-good portion of Spring Training is over for Red Sox ace Chris Sale. He got the first bullpen out of the way, as well as the first live batting practice and then the first Grapefruit League start.

They were all moments to savor for someone who spent the majority of the past three seasons on the sidelines with one injury after another.

Saturday marked the “go” portion of camp for the lanky lefty, who is now in full business mode as he prepares to start a season on the active roster for the first time since 2019.

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“Really good,” said Red Sox manager Alex Cora. “Used all of his pitches. He was very sound mechanics-wise. It was a good one and now we move onto the next one.”

And Sale certainly looked like someone who meant business in his second Grapefruit League start, carving up the Twins over three strikingly efficient innings in which he required just 32 pitches. Of the 19 swings Minnesota took, Sale induced eight whiffs.

Sale gave up one hit and no walks while punching out five. His final pitch of the day was his hardest, purring in at 95.1 mph for a punchout of Kyle Garlick. With more left in the tank, Sale went out to the bullpen to throw a mock fourth inning, an exercise geared toward building his stamina.

“That’s what you like, that’s what we like to do. Quick innings are nice,” said Sale. “And the more quick innings you can get, the more innings you’re going to be able to throw when the season gets here.”

Just to hear Sale talk about the upcoming season is a change of pace from recent years, when all his focus was on getting healthy.

These days, Sale focuses on the art of pitching and the build-up for the season.

“You know, the first one was fun,” said Sale, referring to his two shutout innings in his Grapefruit League debut against Detroit on Monday. “You guys know what happened, the whole backstory and all that good stuff. So the first one was a different feeling. This one obviously, I was more into the swing of things, and especially being on the road helps a little bit.”

Though there wasn’t the same buzz in the stands at Hammond Stadium as at JetBlue Park on Monday, Sale did have a motivating factor.

“I had a bunch of friends here, a bunch of family, and my son’s travel ball team was here, so I was fired up. I couldn’t suck today,” said Sale.

Sale likens his Spring Training mission to building a house.

“It’s just good building blocks,” said Sale. “You want to keep stacking those bricks until the house is built. Got some work to do, but today was a good day.”

One thing that is clear is that Sale feels better about his overall repertoire than at any period since his Tommy John surgery in 2020.

“The slider is nice,” said Sale. “For me, the big thing is I threw some good changeups today and my two-seam fastball, I got some early groundball outs on that.”

Sale has cleared each checkpoint so far, but he knows there’s more to do. He should have three more starts before the regular season.

“I’m happy with where I'm at right now,” said Sale. “Sometimes I feel like I felt more loose in the last inning than I did in that first and second inning. So I'm happy with where I'm at. I think the shape of my pitches, my command is good. The biggest thing is just really staying on top of my delivery and making sure everything's in sync. When that happens, everything else just kind of falls into place. So like I said, it was a good day of work and I'm happy with it, but we’ve still got some work to do.”