Sale shuts down Guardians in 6-2 win

In a Friday night matchup of the teams with the two best records in baseball, Chris Sale continued the masterful series of outings by Atlanta starters this homestand, tossing 7.0 innings of two-hit, one-run baseball to lead the Braves to a 6-2 win over the Cleveland Guardians. With the win, Atlanta’s fourth in a row, the Braves move to 18-6 on the year, while Cleveland sits at 18-8.

Sale did give up his third leadoff and fourth first inning homer in his five starts this year, this one into the Chop House off the bat of Steven Kwan—which felt inauspicious at the time, but obviously ended up being the only run Sale allowed. He also found himself in a bit of a jam in the second after Gabriel Arias singled and advanced to third when Matt Olson bobbled an Austin Hedges grounder to put runners on the corners with one out, but the veteran struck out Brayan Rocchio and got Kwan to ground out to end the threat. The traffic did leave Sale just over 40 pitches through two innings, but he was able to settle in with an efficient six-pitch 1-2-3 third inning. Including those three, Sale would go on to retire 17 straight Cleveland batters through the seventh inning—tallying 95 total pitches for the outing. His final line would be 7.0 innings—for the third start in a row—two hits, one run, and one walk compared to six strikeouts.

The Atlanta offense, on the other hand, struggled to get anything going against Logan Allen in the first few frames, as Adam Duvall’s single to right field in the third was the team’s only hit through three innings. Acuña Jr. did lead off the Braves’ half of the first inning with a walk, but he was stranded despite Austin Riley’s best attempt to bring him home via a 109MPH laser that Kwan caught on the warning track in left field. In the second, a Michael Harris II would-be double landed as close to fair as a foul ball can be.

The Braves’ luck turned in the fourth, as Riley drew a leadoff walk and Olson was glanced by a pitch in the forearm. Both runners advanced via interference by first baseman David Fry on a pickoff move, and they came around to score as Marcell Ozuna laced a two-run double down the left field line.

Harris II plated Ozuna with a shallow double to center to bring the score to 3-1 after four.

Ozzie Albies wasted little time in his return from the fractured toe IL stint, hitting a one-out double off the base of the right field wall in the fifth inning. He advanced to third on a wild pitch and would come home on an Olson single through the right side—a second welcome sight in the frame for Braves fans.

The Guardians pulled Allen in favor of Tyler Beede with Ozuna due up, which resulted in an Ozuna walk and a Travis d’Arnaud hit-by-pitch to load the bases with two outs. Harris II struck out to end the threat, though, with the score at 4-1.

In the sixth, Albies’ second hit of the night, a single, would score Acuña Jr., who had walked and advanced to second on a third-disengagement balk by Beede.

Pierce Johnson entered the game in the top of the eighth and continued Sale’s momentum, retiring the side in order—good for 20 straight Guardians sat down. The streak would end when Tyler Matzek allowed a leadoff double to Tyler Freeman in the ninth, followed up by a single by José Ramírez. Matzek did go on to strike out Josh Naylor, but Atlanta turned to A.J. Minter, who gave up a single to Fry to bring the score to 6-2. One Ramón Laureano strikeout and Gabriel Arias groundout later, and Minter was able to close the door.

The Braves scored their final run of the game via an Orlando Arcia solo homer to left field in the eighth.

The series continues Saturday at 7:20PM, when Charlie Morton faces off against righthander Tanner Bibee.