Chris Sale Makes Braves History in Shutout Win over the Rockies

The Atlanta Braves have a rich pitching history full of Hall of Famers, but Chris Sale's putting up one of the finest seasons in franchise history

The Atlanta Braves shut out the Colorado Rockies on Tuesday night, taking the series opener 3-0 in Truist Park. 

Here’s what you need to know about from the contest.

Chris Sale made franchise history…

The lefty, making his nineteenth start of the season, may have thrown one of his best.

Against a Rockies team that struggles outside of the friendly confines of Coors Field, Sale went seven dominant innings - not allowing any runs to score and not walking a batter, Sale allowed just six hits while striking out nine. This is Sale’s fifteenth consecutive start with two or less runs allowed, dating back to the beginning of June, and his fourth seven-inning scoreless start of the year.

But by getting nine strikeouts, Sale not only took over sole possession of first place in strikeouts for the National League over San Diego Padres hurler Dylan Cease, he also set a new record for the franchise.

Sale’s 206 strikeouts this season are the most in franchise history for a left-handed pitcher. The previous high-water mark was Tom Glavine’s 192 punchouts in 1991, the first of two Cy Young seasons for the Hall of Fame lefty. Glavine went 20-11 with a 2.55 record that year, leading all of MLB with nine complete games.

If you’re curious, the all-time franchise record belongs to a Boston Beaneater, as so many of these records do: Charles Bluffinton struck out 417 batters in 1884, going 48-16 in his 67 starts (63 complete games) with a 2.15 ERA. I really need to do a story on just how dominant and historic those late 1800s Beaneaters squads really were.

With the dominant start, Sale is now in a commanding position in the NL Cy Young race as he hunts down his first career win for the award; he finished in the top six of the AL Cy Young seven consecutive years, including a runner-up in 2017, a 3rd-place finish, and two 4th-place finishes. Sale’s currently sitting at 6.1 fWAR, with the next-closest NL starter being at just 4.4 (Zack Wheeler of the Philadelphia Phillies).

But something was up with his velo tonight

Sale looked good in the first inning - he allowed a single to Brendan Rogers, but otherwise handled the Rockies in order, hitting 96 on his next-to-last fastball of the inning.

But after that, things didn’t look quite right. Sale’s velo dropped, to a surprising degree - only two fastballs in the 2nd inning even broke the 92 mph barrier, a trend that continued through the next few innings. He had only two heaters break 93 mph until the 5th inning, when his pitch mix shifted to even more slider usage, more frequent sinkers, and less (but harder) four-seam fastballs.

Admittedly, I was concerned early - his fastball velocity was close to three mph below his season average, and sudden velo drops are usually a sign of an elbow issue for a pitcher. (I was in the press box for the home opener where Spencer Strider was throwing in the low to mid-90s; he would leave the game for imaging and miss the remainder of the season after elbow surgery).

We’re obviously not going to know for sure, but it appears that dropping his velo may have been a deliberate decision by Sale to help dial in his control - he had some uncharacteristic fastball misses early in the game, but he was back to his season norms by the last few innings of the outing.

Besides, it’s not like he needed his best to shut down Colorado - Sale finished with 23 whiffs and a 35% CSW while allowing only one extra-base hit.

A scary moment for Whit Merrifield

The Braves roster has been decimated by injuries - of the nine hitters in the Opening Day lineup, only the quarter of Matt Olson, Marcell Ozuna, Jarred Kelenic, and Orlando Arcia will finish the season with absences of less than two months. Kelenic missed just a few games with a sore wrist after a diving catch and Arcia missed almost a week with an abscessed tooth, while Olson and Ozuna have made every start this season.

It briefly looked like Atlanta might have lost yet another starter tonight.

Second baseman Whit Merrifield, signed to replace Ozzie Albies (wrist) at second after he was DFA’d by the Phillies in June, was hit by a Jeff Criswell pitch in the back of the head in the 7th inning.

Merrifield quickly made it back to his feet and walked off the field under his own power (while jawing at Criswell, which feels warranted). He was replaced by Luke Williams, who promptly went first-to-third on a Gio Urshela hit-and-run and then scored the final run of the game on a Michael Harris II sacrifice fly.

Manager Brian Snitker indicated that Merrifield passed all his concussion tests after the game and they’re going to re-evaluate him tomorrow, but Merrifield expressed to the coaching staff that he believes he can play tomorrow.

Merrifield addressed the media in the clubhouse after the game, saying that he intends to not only get a CT scan just to be safe but that as a member of the MLBPA’s rules committee, he plans to discuss the issue of pitchers throwing up and in without repercussions during a regularly scheduled rules committee meeting tomorrow morning.

Raisel “Mr. Automatic” Iglesias gets the save

Atlanta’s closer was named the NL Reliever of the Month for August after 13.1 scoreless innings with just two hits and no walks opposite 14 strikeouts and six saves.

He’s gunning for the September award, as well.

After Joe Jiménez pitched a scoreless eighth inning in relief of Sale (striking out the side), Iglesias needed just 12 pitches (seven strikes) for a scoreless ninth inning to secure his 29th save of the season. The righthander hasn’t allowed an earned run since June 16th, lowering his ERA from 2.60 to 1.26 across his 30.1 innings with 36 strikeouts.

The scoreless ninth also secured Atlanta’s 14th shutout of the season, tying Philadelphia for the most in baseball.

What’s next for the Atlanta Braves?

Atlanta’s looking to take the series early, with 40-year-old veteran Charlie Morton (7-7, 4.26) on the mound opposite 23-year-old Bradley Blalock (1-1, 4.98). First pitch is scheduled for 7:20 PM ET.