PHILADELPHIA -- It’s amazing how quickly the mood of a clubhouse can change after Chris Sale pitches like the reigning NL Cy Young Award winner and the maddening Braves offense makes Zack Wheeler look mortal.
This wasn’t a memorable trip, as the Braves lost a starting pitcher and a third straight series. But with Sale tossing six scoreless innings and Ozzie Albies homering during a four-run fourth against Wheeler, Atlanta headed home energized by the 9-3 win claimed over the Phillies in the second game of Thursday’s doubleheader at Citizens Bank Park.
“You always want to leave a city you come into with at least one win,” Sale said. “Today was a tough day injury-wise. But you try to take one and get a happy flight home and then get off on the right foot when we get back to the house.”
Sale turned the tide as he limited the Phillies to two hits over six scoreless innings. The last of his eight strikeouts was the 2,500th of his career. He is the 38th pitcher in modern history to hit this milestone and just the 40th to ever do so. Per the Elias Sports Bureau, he is the first pitcher to ever reach this mark in 2,026 innings or less.
“He’s kind of doing Hall of Fame stuff,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “That guy is probably as big a baseball fan as anybody, just the history of the game and the competition. He's a ballplayer, and it's really cool to watch.”
Sale grew up idolizing Hall of Famer Randy Johnson, who had previously reached 2,500 strikeouts in the fewest innings (2,107 2/3).
“I appreciate it for what it is, but I try not to get too caught up in stuff like that right now,” Sale said. “I know what our job is here. And no matter whether you have a good one or a bad one, the next one is the most important one.”
After the Braves suffered a 5-4 loss in the first game of the doubleheader, their clubhouse felt like a morgue. Along with losing key rookie starter AJ Smith-Shawver to an elbow injury a couple of hours earlier, they also lost for the sixth time in their past seven games and faced a double-digit deficit in the National League East race.
That’s a lot to stomach while preparing to face Wheeler, a suburban Atlanta native who posted a 2.56 ERA over the 11 starts he made against his hometown team. The 34-year-old hurler finished second to Sale in last year’s NL Cy Young Award balloting and entered the game with a 2.42 ERA this year. But the Braves had accounted for five of the 19 earned runs he’d allowed over 70 2/3 innings.
So, maybe there was a bit of confidence. Or maybe, it was just time the Braves finally gave Sale some run support. The lefty went 1-1 with a 1.62 ERA over five starts from April 30-May 23. The Braves scored a grand total of four runs while he was still in the game during those five starts.
It was nice for the Braves to end that trend on what became a special night for the 36-year-old pitcher.
“I love playing behind [Sale],” third baseman Austin Riley said. “He goes to war with us. I’m really happy for him.”
Needless to say, the four-run fourth was much appreciated. Matt Olson and Riley tallied consecutive doubles ahead of the two-run homer Albies dropped just over the right-field wall. The Braves ended up tallying six runs over 5 1/3 innings against Wheeler. Atlanta has been the opponent each of the three times the Phillies' ace has allowed five earned runs in a start since the start of 2023.
Albies’ sixth homer of the year gave him a 14-game hitting streak. Riley’s two-run shot in the seventh was his first homer since May 4. His two extra-base hits in the nightcap were one fewer than the total he had in his previous 21 games combined.
The start of the trip was ugly. But the end gave the Braves some life, something they were struggling to find Thursday afternoon.
“Hopefully tonight is the start of something special and we can build off that, because I do believe in these guys,” Riley said. “Hopefully we can bottle it up and move on to tomorrow.”