The All-Star break is coming at a good time for the Boston Red Sox as they have four starting pitchers on the injured list: Chris Sale, Nathan Eovaldi, Michael Wacha and Rich Hill.'The lefty Sale, formerly an annual contender for the AL Cy Young, will be activated and make his season debut tonight at the Tampa Bay Rays. Sale is given an Over/Under of 4.5 strikeouts at Caesars Sportsbook and will have a pitch count of around 85.
Sale last pitched in Game 5 of the 2021 ALCS vs. Houston and made just nine regular-season starts last year coming off Tommy John surgery, going 5-1 with a 3.16 ERA. A stress fracture in his right ribcage sustained in winter workouts delayed this season and then Sale had an additional delay due to what he and the team described as a personal medical issue.
The Sox gave him a $145 million extension in March 2019 when Sale was still at the top of his game. At an average of $30 million a season, he has made about $3.3 million per MLB start since that deal kicked in at the start of the 2020 campaign. In his final rehab start last Wednesday at Triple-A Worcester, Sale threw 72 pitches over 3.2 innings and walked five. Sale's fastball reached a high of 95 mph.
Sale was so perturbed with the walks — it marked the first time he issued five or more free passes in an outing at any level since May 19, 2019, with the Red Sox against the Astros — that he was recorded tearing down wall art and breaking a cl ubhouse TV, which of course went viral. He paid to have everything replaced. Sale described his actions as a “seven-year-old temper tantrum” to reporters.