Chicago White Sox ace Sale embarrassed by his performance
From 2013-15, Tyler Flowers was Chris Sale's primary catcher, and he gained invaluable knowledge on the Chicago White Sox's ace starting pitcher.
Back at U.S. Cellular Field on Friday night with the Atlanta Braves, Flowers ran a hitter's meeting before the first of three games against the Sox to close out the first half of the season.
"How do you hit him?" Flowers asked before the game. "It's like saying how you hit (Los Angeles Dodgers ace Clayton) Kershaw. You just hope he makes a mistake and you hope you happen to be looking and ready for it; hopefully you hit it where someone's not."
In a game highlighted by the White Sox turning their third triple play of the season, Sale made plenty of mistakes and Flowers and the Braves outslugged the home team 11-8.
After Sale (14-3) walked Chase d'Arnaud leading off the third inning, former teammate Gordon Beckham followed with a single.
Freddie Freeman grounded to Tim Anderson, and the Sox's brilliant rookie shortstop tagged out d'Arnaud, stepped on second base to force Beckham and threw to first baseman Jose Abreu to retire Freeman.
The White Sox are the first team since the Boston Red Sox and Oakland Athletics, both in 1979, to turn 3 triple plays in a season.
"(Sale) needed that," manager Robin Ventura said. "It's odd. You don't count on those. You don't expect to see one a year, let alone three. That one was just positioning and the way the ball was hit at T.A."
Sale definitely needed the help after giving up 1 run in the first inning and 2 more in the second on Flowers' home run.
The White Sox's only all-star - and the American League's likely starter - Sale figured to dominate an Atlanta team with the worst record (30-57) in the majors. Instead, he allowed 8 runs on 10 hits in 5 innings. Sale also allowed a career-high 7 extra-base hits, including 3 home runs.
"Pretty embarrassing," he said. "It's about as bad as I possibly think I've been in awhile. Stuff like this happens. You take the good with the bad, and this certainly was the bad. You just take it, you throw it away, you discard it."
While Sale's velocity was lower than normal, is it possible Flowers gave his teammates a foolproof scouting report?
"I think you know who won that battle," Sale said. "He's seen me more than anybody. You tip your cap and you move on. Just move on."
The Sox lost despite scoring 8 runs on 13 hits, including solo homers by Adam Eaton (No. 5) and Todd Frazier (No. 24).
"I definitely would have liked to have been better tonight for the guys," Sale said. "We score 8 and you've got to have that game. You score 8 runs and you've got to win."