‘Robot’ Chris Sale is a machine for Braves in Game 1

This is what the Braves expected when they traded for left-hander Chris Sale. It’s the reason why manager Walt Weiss gave Sale extra rest between starts this year.

The Braves did everything possible to get Sale to the postseason healthy. Give him the ball, and he would take care of the rest.

That’s how it played out against the Phillies in the National League wild card game at Truist Park on Tuesday.

Sale pitched more innings than he ever had in a postseason start. He got a standing ovation when he left in the seventh inning with one out and a one-run lead. Didier Fuentes allowed two inherited runners to score, but Sale had done his part.

He recorded a career-high nine strikeouts. Sale allowed a run in the first inning, then didn’t give up another until he was charged with the two that scored with Fuentes on the mound.

Austin Riley’s three-run homer in the eighth sent the Braves to a 5-3 victory. Sale’s masterful pitching at 37 years old gave them the chance to win. He allowed four hits and got 22 swings and misses.

“He was great,” Weiss said. “That’s what he looks like every time out virtually.”

The Braves acquired Sale in a 2023 trade to be their ace pitcher in October. Back spasms prevented him from pitching the last time they made the postseason. The Padres roughed up Braves pitchers during a two-game sweep in the 2024 wild card round.

The Braves didn’t make the postseason last year. They won the NL East this season thanks in large part to a strong pitching staff with Sale at the top.

The Braves won their first postseason game since 2023 behind a strong start from Sale.

“I just want to win games,” Sale said. “At this point I don’t care how it happens (even) if I’ve got to come out of the bullpen. If Walt would have taken me out after 40 pitches and we win that game, it doesn’t matter.

I try to break this down and make it as simple as possible for me. My job is not what, why, when, how, whatever. I’m literally a robot. You hand me the ball, and I go throw until you say I’m done.”

Weiss decided Sale was finished after 95 pitches. Sale had hit Bryan De La Cruz with a pitch and allowed a single to Bryson Stott. But the Phillies had No. 8 hitter Edmundo Sosa due up and light-hitting catcher J.T. Realmuto on deck.

Weiss said the decision to pull Sale was influenced by the hit-by-pitch against De La Cruz and Bryce Harper’s long fly ball that sailed just foul in the eighth inning. Sale didn’t protest “because he knows I usually give him a long leash.”

“These postseason innings are different than regular season innings,” Weiss said. “My plan was to probably let him go to 110 pitches (in) this game if he was dealing and he was rolling. But yeah, just felt like it was time. He had done his job, and it was time.”

Fuentes got pinch hitter Justin Crawford to fly out. Realmuto was once a great hitter but had career-worst production this season. He didn’t miss when Fuentes threw a 99 mph fastball over the plate with a 1-0 count.

Realmuto’s drive went to the right field corner, where Ronald Acuña Jr. made several attempts to pick it up before throwing to the infield. De La Cruz and Stott scored for a 3-2 Phillies lead.

“’Didi’ is the right guy for that situation,” Sale said. “I don’t think there is anybody who has watched our team play a single game this year that wouldn’t agree with that. He felt bad about it, and I told him, ‘Hey, sometimes we need help, too.’’

Fuentes got the boost he needed when Riley homered in the eighth. The Braves didn’t waste one of the best October starts of Sale’s distinguished career.

Sale has pitched plenty of times in the postseason before. He made 10 October appearances for the Red Sox. Sale started Game 1 of the 2018 World Series and recorded the final out in Game 5 at Dodger Stadium to clinch the championship.

But Sale hadn’t pitched in the playoffs since 2021.

“It was exciting,” Sale said. “I could have pitched this game at 8:15 this morning. It felt like one of those scary movies. My eyes opened, and I popped out of bed.

“It was one of those weird situations where sometimes it’s a night game, and you feel like you are waiting all day to play. It felt like I was warming up and I looked up and . . . it felt like it was 5:00 by the time I started getting ready to run out on the field.”

It was the moment the Braves had been waiting for since president Alex Anthopoulos traded Vaughn Grissom for Sale in December 2023. The Red Sox agreed to pay more than half of Sale’s 2024 salary of $27.5 million. They gave up on Sale after a series of injuries limited his availability and effectiveness.