Chris Sale will not start on Opening Day, Alex Cora to announce in the coming days
The Red Sox haven’t officially named a starter to take the ball on Opening Day, that announcement is expected in the coming days. Chris Sale will not be the one taking the mound for the Red Sox on Opening Day, per Alex Cora, via audio from WEEI’s Rob Bradford.
Cora met with the Red Sox media on Sunday morning and said that he made the decision to not go with Sale about a month ago and that there is a “good chance” Corey Kluber gets the start.
“No, no, no he’s not. You can write that one down. He’s not, he knows already,” said Cora.
“From my end, I decided that he is not, I want him to enjoy Thursday as a regular baseball player. Just the whole Opening Day thing, whenever he pitches in the rotation, he pitches in the rotation… I decided on that a month and half ago, and we had the conversation,” added Cora.
Sale took the news well according to Cora.
The Red Sox will have Sale pitch Thursday, which is an off day for the team. Cora would like for his lefty to pitch four innings.
“He’ll pitch Thursday, we’ll find a way to get four innings, its an off day for us, but we got to keep him on the schedule… he’ll pitch that one the next week or the week after, I don’t know who he has,” added Cora.
Sale threw three scoreless innings against the Twins from Hammond Stadium on Saturday. That was his second Grapefruit League start this spring.
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.
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This is so disappointing