SAN FRANCISCO — The Sale vs. Snell duel more than lived up to the hype, the two veteran left-handers going at it in glorious fashion on a cool, breezy night by San Francisco Bay. It was old-school pitching dominance and, for the Atlanta Braves, as close to a must-win as possible in mid-August.
Blake Snell had 11 strikeouts and held the Braves hitless until the seventh inning, but Chris Sale was more efficient and just as dominant, walking no San Francisco Giants and striking out a season-high 12 in seven innings of a 1-0, 10-inning Braves win to open a four-game series that’s more important than anyone anticipated it’d be a few weeks ago.
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“We all knew yesterday was a tough one,” Sale said of Sunday’s series finale at Colorado, where the Braves led 8-2 before a seven-run Rockies eighth inning, in one of the most devastating Atlanta regular-season losses in recent memory. “We had to get over that one quick, and coming in here we knew we needed to win this one. Obviously it was a grind from the start.”
Travis d’Arnaud had a pinch-hit sacrifice fly in the 10th inning Monday for the only scoring in a game between teams competing for the final spot in the NL wild-card standings. Braves closer Raisel Iglesias had four strikeouts in the final two perfect innings for the win.
Iglesias pitches a perfect 10th with two strikeouts and the #Braves win 1-0, just their second win in nine games. Chris Sale was absolutely dominant and got no decision, but Braves got a much-needed win against a team they're competing with for a wild-card spot.
— David O'Brien (@DOBrienATL) August 13, 2024
But for most of the night, this was all Sale, who retired 20 of 21 batters after the first two reached in the first inning, and Snell, the reigning NL Cy Young Award winner, who threw a no-hitter on Aug. 2. Snell has a 0.99 ERA, 60 strikeouts and a .097 opponents’ batting average in seven starts since returning from the injured list. Sale and Snell combined for the most strikeouts (23) by two starters in a game at the Giants’ waterfront ballpark since it opened in 2000.
“I mean, he wasn’t missing anywhere,” Giants right fielder Mike Yastrzemski said of Sale, who fired 77 strikes in a season-high 107 pitches and had multiple strikeouts against four batters including Yastrzemski. “And if he was, it wasn’t over the plate. To face a guy from an arm slot none of us are used to facing, it’s really tough when there’s no pitches over the heart of the plate.
“Sometimes you’ve got to tip your cap. He pitched a great game. They were grinding as hard as we were.”
Snell had 11 strikeouts with three walks in 6 1/3 innings Monday and didn’t give up a hit until Marcell Ozuna’s seventh-inning leadoff double.
Of Snell and Sale, Iglesias said through an interpreter: “They’re the best in the league. And as far as Chris, he was tremendous out there. His effort deserved an excellent effort and outing from the bullpen as well. … I think as a team we’ve already overcome (Sunday’s loss) and turned the page and moved on, and I think Sale’s effort tonight kind of really got us going.”
Teammates and Braves manager Brian Snitker credited the 35-year-old lefty for overcoming an error by center fielder Ramón Laureano on a first-inning leadoff fly ball by Tyler Fitzgerald, which was followed by a Mark Canha single before Sale retired the next three including two strikeouts to strand the runners.
“We kind of put him in a bind there,” Snitker said, calling that first-inning escape the most impressive part of Sale’s outing. “That could have been the ballgame right there. And then what he continued to do was pretty impressive, as well as Iggy. (Sale) was really, really good. It’s a big win after yesterday, especially.”
“That first inning was huge,” Braves catcher Sean Murphy said. “Chris went out and made his pitches, competed like he always does. Yeah, I hope the fans enjoyed that. That was two studs going at it. Getting it done for their teams. It was fun.”
The Giants sent four or fewer batters to the plate in each of the second through seventh innings against Sale.
“He went seven and that’s probably why they won the game,” Snell said. “You’re always competing against the other starter to go as deep as you can.”
The Braves had lost seven of eight before Monday and 14 of their past 21 to slip to four games behind both Arizona and San Diego in the wild-card standings, and only 1 1/2 games ahead of the Giants. With three to play in this series, the Braves moved to 2 1/2 ahead of the Giants and Cardinals, and one ahead of the New York Mets.
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Sale allowed just three singles in his second-ever start in San Francisco. Coincidentally, his only previous start here came exactly 10 years ago, when he also struck out 12 in eight scoreless innings for the White Sox but again got no decision in his team’s 3-2, 10-inning win.
That previous game came in the third year of Sale’s seven consecutive All-Star appearances, a stretch that saw him finish sixth in the AL Cy Young balloting followed by six consecutive top-five finishes.
This year in his first season with the Braves, he’s turned back the clock after five injury-plagued seasons with the Red Sox, going 13-3 with a 2.61 ERA in 22 starts while posting 177 strikeouts — second-most in the majors — and only 30 walks in 134 2/3 innings.
Snell said of Sale, “For me personally, I wasn’t rooting for him, obviously. But outside of that, I’ve been a fan for a long time. Great guy. What he’s had to battle to get where he’s at now is pretty amazing. I won’t be rooting for him the next three games, but on a personal level, I couldn’t be more excited for him and what he’s overcome.”
Michael Harris II is set to return from the 60-day injured list Wednesday, and not a day too soon for the Braves. Laureano, another of their fill-in outfielders signed off the scrap heap, got the start in center Monday and made a first-inning error that was the latest in a series of mistakes that have made this makeshift outfield arguably the worst defensive unit in the majors.
Laureano’s error, on a fly ball to shallow center that somehow went over his head, didn’t prove costly because Sale didn’t let it.
Not like the two defensive mistakes that Jorge Soler made in right field in Sale’s last start, or certainly not like the game-ending fly ball that Laureano overran July 25 at New York to give the Mets a 10th-inning walk-off win over the Braves.
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Laureano was playing right field that night at New York, in a game started by … yes, Sale.
Sale was also on the mound on Aug. 7 when Soler, in right field, was charged with one error that let in a run and made another costly mistake later on a fifth-inning play when a catchable ball landed in front of him — he took a bad route — for a single that put two runners on before Sale struck out the next two batters, which would’ve ended the inning if the fly had been caught.
Instead, the Brewers got a pair of two-out RBI singles off Sale in that inning, and he was charged with three runs (two earned) in 4 2/3 innings of the Braves’ 8-5 loss.
The Braves could live with Soler’s early defensive struggles, because they knew when they got him that he’d served exclusively as a DH this season for the Giants and hadn’t played the outfield since 2023, when he played 32 games in right field for Miami, after playing 57 games in left field for the Marlins in 2022.
Soler’s four homers in the three-game series that ended Sunday at Colorado were a reminder of his game-changing power, and he also has a disciplined approach, evidenced by walks in each of his first two plate appearances Monday against Snell. Combined with the thunder in his bat, that makes him the best current leadoff option for the Braves, especially since Jarred Kelenic is struggling mightily since an initial surge when he was in the leadoff spot.
Though Harris was batting leadoff before his Grade 2 left hamstring strain two months ago, Snitker said Soler, acquired in a trade-deadline deal with the Giants, will stay in the leadoff spot when Harris returns. He plans to bat Harris toward the lower-middle of the lineup.
Harris was off to a sluggish start before his injury, batting .250 with a .295 OBP and .653 OPS in 67 games. But the Braves saw last season what he can do when he gets on a roll. Harris was slowed by injuries early in 2023, including an IL stint for a back strain, and hit just .190 with a .562 OPS in his first 43 games.
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He went 7-for-8 with two homers in his next two games, igniting a torrid stretch that lasted pretty much the remainder of the season for Harris, who hit .333 with a .906 OPS with 45 extra-base hits (15 homers) and a .906 OPS in his final 95 games, starting all but two games in that surge of just over 3 1/2 months.
Harris went 10-for-23 (.435) with a homer in six rehab games with Triple-A Gwinnett, and come Wednesday the Braves will have a lot more confidence in the center fielder they’re running out there than they have since he went down.
(Photo of Jorge Soler: Sergio Estrada / USA Today)
David O'Brien is a senior writer covering the Atlanta Braves for The Athletic. He previously covered the Braves for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and covered the Marlins for eight seasons, including the 1997 World Series championship. He is a two-time winner of the NSMA Georgia Sportswriter of the Year award. Follow David on Twitter @DOBrienATL
