Chris Sale won’t be playing in Tuesday’s All-Star Game, but his return to performing like an All-Star will take a big step forward this week.
“(Tuesday) will be four weeks (since the injury). That’s generally, for broken bones, the 4-6 week mark is kind of a peg in the board. Hoping to be throwing here in the next few days anyway, and then we’ll see where we’re at after that,” Sale said Tuesday inside the Coca-Cola Roxy next door to Truist Park, site of Tuesday’s Midsummer Classic.
Sale last pitched June 18, a sparkling performance against the Mets, where he threw 8 2/3 scoreless innings in a 5-0 Braves’ win. But during the win, when the Cy Young winner dove for a ground ball tweener toward first base, the 36-year-old fractured his rib cage.
The injury originally forced Sale to go on the 15-day injured list. On July 1, he was moved to the 60-day IL.
“It sucks. But, for me, I got hurt on kind of a hustle play. It was one of those things where I was doing everything I could to get an out,” Sale said of being sidelined. “So it’s a little easier of a pill to swallow in terms of that. It wasn’t some fluke, freak thing. Or, knock on wood, it wasn’t something with my arm.”
Sale’s departure was a sobering development for a Braves’ pitching staff that was rounding into form with Spencer Schwellenbach, Spencer Strider and Grant Holmes all becoming consistently reliable performers over the season’s first three months.
But Schwellenbach (fractured elbow) and Sale joined already-injured AJ Smith-Shawver (torn ulnar collateral ligament), as well as Reynaldo López (shoulder), who has been out virtually the entire season.
Sale had a 2.52 ERA in 15 starts with 114 strikeouts and 26 walks before the injury. Those numbers allowed him to be named an NL All-Star for the ninth time in his career and second straight time as a Brave.
The reigning Cy Young Award winner had an ERA of 0.83 in three June starts and a 1.11 ERA in May.
Even though Sale is inactive this week, he will take advantage of being around the game’s best.
“I still have a lot of fun, I still appreciate it,” Sale said of being back at the All-Star Game. “I still try to go back to when I was a 10-year-old kid and watching the All-Star Game on TV with my dad and understanding that this is a privilege to be able to be here and it’s an honor to be here. It’s about not overlooking it or taking it for granted.
“I’ve always been able to reflect on each one individually and appreciate them for what they are, and know that it might not ever be here again. Soak in the moment and appreciate where you’re at and enjoy the moment, and have as much fun as you can.”
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