Chris Sale strikes out 5 Twins batters over 3 scoreless innings
Red Sox lefty Chris Sale threw three scoreless innings against the Twins at Hammond Stadium on Saturday. This was Sale’s second Grapefruit League start.
Sale left the game with the Red Sox leading the Twins 3-0. The left-hander allowed only one hit, no walks while striking out five batters.
When facing his final batter of the afternoon, the 33-year-old hit 95 mph on the radar gun for his final strikeout, per Julian McWilliams of The Boston Globe.
“It’s big time,” Sale told NESN’s Jahmai Webster after he was removed from the game. “Yeah, that’s what we’re here to do. One start at a time, getting some innings under my belt. Today was a good day.”
Sale featured all his pitches, his fastball, slider and changeup on Saturday afternoon. He has been working on improving his changeup since camp begun in February.
“I think that’s going to be big,” Sale told Webster. “Any time you can have a third pitch for somebody to worry about, have in the back of their mind and being consistent with it. That’s going to be the big part — is throwing it for strikes, have it be an effective pitch. Because you can have a third pitch and it not do anything and then guys don’t really have to worry about it. So being able to throw it for strikes and get some swings on it, that shows promise.”
Follow Chris on Twitter @ChrisHenrique
For additional Red Sox, Bruins, Patriots, MLB and NFL content follow Beyond the Monster on Twitter @BeyondtheMnstr.
Join our new Facebook group for all of our latest content, click the link here.
