Red Sox’s Chris Sale Has Blunt Assessment Of Boston’s Loss To Orioles

The Baltimore Orioles offense has been successful against Boston Red Sox starter Chris Sale in his two previous starts this season.

Things were more of the same in Boston’s loss to Baltimore Saturday night at Fenway Park.

The Orioles knocked Sale out of the game after 80 pitches over four innings of work. The southpaw threw 63.7% of his pitches for strikes (51-of-80 pitches) and struck out three of the first four batters he faced.

Despite retiring the side in order in the first inning, Sale allowed seven runs (six earned) on six hits, including two home runs over the three remaining innings he pitched for his fourth loss of the season.

“We were a starting pitcher away from winning this game,” Sale told reporters, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “We scored 12 (expletive) runs. What is going on? Just frustrating. Very disappointing.”

The Red Sox rallied throughout the game scoring 12 runs on 23 hits, but Sale said he had difficulty finding command of his pitches on the mound.

“Yeah, it’s like you see flashes of it and then it disappears for a little bit,” Sale said. “Pitch-to-pitch, inning-to-inning, you know it’s in there. You’re kind of browsing around the bottom of the barrell trying to find it. It’s just tough. No other way to put it.”

Sale has two losses against the Orioles in three starts this season. He has allowed 19 runs on 22 hits across 12 innings for an ERA of 13.50 in the three games. He’s given up five home runs while striking out 11 batters and walking five of the 60 at-bats he’s pitched.