WASHINGTON -- Neither a two-hour rain delay prior to first pitch nor consistent rain early in Game 2 of the Braves’ split doubleheader vs. the Nats mattered to Chris Sale on Tuesday night.
The reigning NL Cy Young Award winner did what he does best: he shoved.
“Stuff like that happens,” Sale said of the rain. “I mean we all have to deal with the same circumstances, and you can do one of two things. You can either worry about it, or just try to do your job. So for me, I just tried to not really think about it a whole lot and just go out there and try to pitch.”
Pitch he did. Sale delivered one of his most dominant performances of the season in Atlanta’s 5-0 win in Game 2 of the split doubleheader at Nationals Park, throwing 106 pitches and striking out nine over eight scoreless innings while allowing just three hits and no walks. It was the eighth time this year that Sale tossed 100-plus pitches and just his second time completing eight innings.
The Braves won the matinee matchup as well, riding a five-run fourth to a 6-3 victory.
“He kind of seemed like he -- it took him a while to get going, it seemed like,” manager Brian Snitker said. “But then once he got going, everything started clicking, and he just was strike after strike with everything. And, you know, he and [catcher Sandy León] kind of teamed back up from a lot of time with the Red Sox, and so I think that was kind of special for him too, to have him back there, especially in a game like this.”
Perhaps even more impressive, Sale did so with zero run support, as his offense mustered just three hits with him on the mound. They did, however, deliver in extras.
Though Sale had no run support on the mound, the Braves came through in extra innings.
Drake Baldwin, pinch-hitting to lead off the 10th inning, delivered an RBI double over the head of Nationals right fielder Dylan Crews. In the end, that was all it took. The Braves didn’t let up though, and Matt Olson hit a three-run triple to contribute to the five-run frame.
Baldwin’s knock was his fifth go-ahead hit in the eighth inning or later this year, tied for the second most in MLB. It was also his seventh game-winning RBI, tied with Austin Riley for the fourth-most such hits among Braves players.
“Being so young, being in his first year in the big leagues, seeing the way he prepares for the games, scouting report, knowing the [team], knowing the hitters, doing his job,” Leon said, “and then he comes to a game and he knows what he needs to do behind the plate. And then hit a double to the wall in the 10th to get us the lead? He's -- it's really good. He's going to play for a long time.”
It was Baldwin’s knock that sealed the deal as Tyler Kinley shut the door in the bottom of the frame to secure the doubleheader sweep and the win in the four-game set.
Despite that lack of early offense, and regardless of the extra-inning surge, the nightcap was all about Sale.
“He's a vet. Honestly, I thought he was getting better as the game was going on,” Nationals infielder Nasim Nuñez said. “He did his thing. That's why everybody knows the name Chris Sale. …
“It just seemed like he was in a flow. Sometimes pitchers are just in that flow, and we did our best to try to break that flow.
“Man, I wish I knew [how to break that flow], because then I could tell everybody, and he would've been able to break it a little bit earlier. But, it's Chris Sale. He's got good stuff, he's been in the game a long time, he's smart, he knows what he has to do, he sees things and he nitpicks. He's a good pitcher."