Sale’s Sunday Night outing

Chris Sale gave Atlanta six innings of one-run baseball Sunday night, steadying the Braves in a 13-1 win over the Cleveland Guardians. (nbcsports.com) Sale struck out six, walked one and allowed eight hits at Truist Park on April 12, earning his third win of the 2026 season. (cbssports.com) The Braves gave him room immediately, piling up 19 hits against Cleveland pitching in the Sunday Night Baseball matchup. NBC Sports said those 19 hits were the most by any team in a game this season. (nbcsports.com) The outing followed Sale’s roughest start of the year on April 6 in Anaheim, when he allowed six earned runs in four innings against the Los Angeles Angels. Four days earlier, on April 1, he had held the Athletics to one run in six innings. (espn.com) That sequence fits the larger arc of Sale’s Atlanta run. The 37-year-old left-hander won the 2024 National League Cy Young Award after going 18-3 with a 2.38 earned run average in his first season with the Braves. (mlb.com) Sale entered Sunday with a 2-0 record and a 0.75 earned run average through his first three starts before the Angels game pushed that mark higher. After the Guardians start, ESPN listed him at 3-1 with a 3.27 earned run average and 22 strikeouts in 22 innings. (espn.com) He is also climbing a longer list. Newsday reported earlier this month that Sale moved past Hall of Famers Bob Feller and Warren Spahn into 30th place on Major League Baseball’s career strikeout list. (newsday.com) Sunday’s start did not look like a vintage line because of overpowering strikeout volume alone; it looked like one because Sale worked through six innings, limited damage to one run and handed the game over with Atlanta in full control. (nbcsports.com)