It was a night to behold, a pitching performance of unparalleled measure.
The hyperboles were apt for Braves’ left-hander Chris Sale, who at 37 years old, threw a complete-game, 11-strikeout, five-hit shutout against the two-time defending world champion Dodgers on Thursday.
The Braves won the game 1-0. Sale continued to win the hearts and minds of the 39,650 fans at Truist Park, and the thousands more watching elsewhere.
“I try to throw a complete game every time. I’ve never tried to give up a hit. I’ve never tried to give up a run. I never like getting pulled out of the game,” Sale said. “And you know after the eighth inning, I knew my pitch count was creeping up there, but 1-0 ballgame, I knew I was just south of 100 (pitches), so I just told (Braves manager) Walt (Weiss), ‘I got this one.’ Tonight it worked out.”
An understatement if there was one.
Sale immediately gave up a 1-0 single to the dangerous Freddie Freeman, hitting cleanup on this night, to begin the top of the ninth. But then an overzealous Teoscar Hernández hit a first-pitch changeup softly to left for the first out.
A fielder’s choice (quite nearly a double play to end the game) for the second out preceded Alex Call being called out on a check swing on a 98.6-mph fastball up-and-away while the sellout crowd stood and roared in an atmosphere resembling the postseason. It was Sale’s 109th pitch of the night, a season high.
“The adrenaline was there,” Sale said. “I felt the atmosphere. Our fans, obviously, show up time and time again, but tonight was a fun one. Running out there for the ninth inning, it was hard not to feel that energy pulsing through the stadium.
“Thankful for our fans creating an atmosphere like that — and thankful for (Weiss) giving me a little bit longer leash than maybe he wanted to.”
Weiss, frankly, was probably actually letting the leash lengthen a bit more than normal.
The Braves (79-55) had used nearly every piece of their bullpen in recent days, and realistically only had three options in relief Thursday, including closer Raisel Iglesias — who was warming up before and during the ninth inning. Weiss said his plan was to send Sale back to the mound for the ninth, and only would have pulled Sale had the pitch count become far too high, or had the Dodgers scored a run.
Neither of those things happened.
“I always talk about how the Hall of Famers are just different. That’s a perfect example right there,” Weiss said. “Chris Sale knew that we were really thin tonight in the bullpen, and so he puts a team on his back and throws a complete-game shutout against the world champions. Enough said right there.”
If all that wasn’t enough for Sale, who finished with 23 called strikes and 20 whiffs against the Dodgers’ lineup, he said he found out before Thursday’s game that a close family friend, 42-year-old Ashley Foss, had died.
“Felt like I had a little something else helping me tonight, and there’s no question that was her out there,” Sale said.
Sale threw four pitches above 99 mph. He threw 10 more that registered at least 98 mph.
His 100.1-mph fastball to Shohei Ohtani in the third inning was just the 16th time in Sale’s career he’s reached 100 mph, and the first time he’s done so since July 6, 2018.
Speaking of the third inning, it was as impressive as they come, with Sale striking out the side: catcher Ben Rortvedt on three pitches, Ohtani on six and Tommy Edman on three more.
“He was on a mission,” Weiss said. “You could see it. He was attacking from the first pitch — and not that he doesn’t do that, but you could see he had a different look in his eye, and the look in his eye is always pretty good.”
Said Braves’ catcher Drake Baldwin, who caught all 109 pitches: “That has to be top two, probably, most-impressive pitching performance I’ve seen with my time in the big leagues. I mean, from pitch one, he was just locked-in and executing pitches and obviously had really good stuff. It was pretty incredible.”
Baldwin gave Sale the only run he and the Braves needed Thursday, hitting the first pitch from Dodgers starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto, a splitter down the heart of the plate, 402 feet into the Chop House in right. Baldwin’s 22nd homer of the season was also his first since Aug. 18.
Yamamoto allowed only three more hits after that, a one-out single by Ha-Seong Kim in the third, a two-out single by Ozzie Albies in the sixth and a one-out infield single to Michael Harris II in the seventh. The Japanese right-hander, who threw 105 pitches, struck out eight and walked none.
On any other night, Yamamoto deserved the spotlight. But Sale was not to be denied, striking out at least 10 hitters in a game for the fourth time this season and for the 95th time in his career, the seventh-most in MLB history (Sandy Koufax is sixth with 97 such games).
Sale’s complete game Thursday was his first since June 5, 2019, and the 17th of his career. Sale became the first Braves pitcher to strike out at least 10 hitters without allowing a walk since Tim Hudson did that May 2, 2008.
“I’m just thankful to get through it, man,” Sale said. “I pride myself on working hard, and I pride myself on going out there and giving my team a chance to win. Sometimes it’s good, sometimes it’s not. But I’m just thankful for the people that I have in my corner to help me get out to that mound.
“I’ve said it a lot, but this isn’t me just behind the scenes doing what I do to get out there. I got a lot of people in my corner helping me out, getting me ready for my starts, getting me back up on my feet, and keeping me healthy for the most part. I’m just thankful. I love playing this game, and I want to keep doing it for as long as I can.”