Sale, pitching against the Orioles Sunday. (Scott Taetsch/Getty Images)
BOSTON (WBZ-AM) -- Red Sox ace Chris Sale hadn't pitched in more than two weeks before toeing the rubber yesterday in Baltimore, and he made the most of it in a 4-1 win.
"It was awesome," he said. "I was fired up to get back out there. It's what I do, you know, it's my job."
Sale was limited to 75 pitches, but only used 68 in his five shutout innings. He struck out a dozen, didn't walk anyone, and held the Orioles to one hit--a single. The lefty's 6-0 his last seven starts spanning 44 innings, with 79 K's to just six walks. His ERA's an absurd 0.20 during the run and a league-leading 1.97 on the year.
Sox skipper Alex Cora said Sale benefited from the time off and he'll have even more coming up after dealing with shoulder soreness.
"He felt that, and we had to take care of him," Cora said. "You have to give credit to the other guys on staff, they did an outstanding job while he was on the DL. Now we'll take care of him on the upcoming start. He's starting actually next Sunday. With the off days and everything that's coming up, he's gonna benefit from that. We're just happy that he's back."
That next meeting will be at Fenway against the Rays. Boston will open a two-game series in Philadelphia tomorrow.
WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Adam Kaufman (@AdamMKaufman) reports