ANAHEIM, Calif. — Chris Sale was sick his last time out. On Monday he probably wished he had been.
A rare disastrous start from Sale did the Braves in Monday in a 6-2 loss to the Angels at Angels Stadium.
Sale, 8-0 in 11 career appearances against the Angels and 2-0 this season having allowed a single run, saw the wheels come off in a three-run fourth inning and then the vehicle crashed out in the fifth after allowing a hit and a homer.
The six earned runs allowed by Sale (2-1) were his most since the Athletics got the former Cy Young Award winner for eight June 1, 2024.
All of Sale’s misfortunes came after the distant memory of a brief Braves lead.
As is becoming somewhat of a daily occurrence, Drake Baldwin got the Braves (6-5) on the board first with a solo homer in the team’s first at-bat. Baldwin took a 1-2, 98-mph fastball from José Soriano and crushed it nearly 400 feet into the stands in right for the catcher’s fifth home run in 11 games.
Not to be outdone, Zach Neto took Sale’s first pitch of the cool California night and belted it way over the left field wall making it 1-1.
Sale was humming right along after that, setting down nine straight and striking out six in the process. The fourth inning was a different story.
A 1-2 slider graved Jorge Soler’s foot. Jo Adell singled to right. Jeimer Candelario walked. Logan O’Hoppe walked on seven pitches to bring in a run.
After a force out at home, Yoán Moncada took a slider on the kneecap to bring in another run making it 3-1. Bryce Teodosio reached on an infield single in the hole between third and shortstop and it was suddenly 4-1.
Sale got the final two outs of the inning, but only after the Angels (6-5) had plated three runs despite only one hit and nary a ball leaving the infield. Sale threw 33 pitches in the frame.
Jo Adell’s two-run homer to left center in the fifth put the nail in Sale’s coffin. He departed having thrown 77 pitches and his seven strikeouts were of little consolation.
Soriano (3-0), who Braves manager Walt Weiss called, “one of the best kept secrets in the game,” before Monday’s matchup, was in cruise control after Baldwin’s homer. The hard-throwing righty set down 19 straight before Mike Yastrzemski’s hard-hit single to left to lead off the eighth.
Soriano struck out 10 and lowered his ERA to 0.45.
Mauricio Dubón led off the ninth with a solo home run against Angels reliever Chase Silseth. Then the Braves, who have lost three straight after a 6-2 start, went quietly into the night.
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