Chris Sale took the mound Thursday evening at Truist Park carrying more than just a baseball. Hours before first pitch, the 37-year-old Braves ace learned that Ashley Foss, a close family friend whose agency manages his finances, had died of cancer. Yet he was there, grinding through eight innings against the two-time defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers, his fastball touching triple digits for the first time since 2018.
By the time Sale reached the dugout after the eighth, he'd thrown 97 pitches. Manager Walt Weiss knew what was coming. Sale walked the length of the bench, found his skipper, and made his ask clear: he wanted the ninth.
He got it. The Braves won 1-0, capping a three-game sweep of Los Angeles—each game decided by a single run.
Sale's final line read like something from another era: 11 strikeouts, one hit, zero runs allowed over nine innings. His ERA dropped to 2.06, second in the majors. At 37, with a recent Tommy John surgery, Sale proved he's not coasting through his twilight years.
"You can make an argument that, as great a career as he's having, he's as good now as he's ever been," Weiss told reporters after the game. "It's mind-boggling."
Video shared on social media captured Sale's son's reaction when he realized his father would return for the ninth inning. "The family stuff, it's fun just because I'm glad I don't see that stuff until after the game because that's just so special," Sale said Friday on "The Pat McAfee Show."
Dodgers hitter Shohei Ohtani, one of baseball's most formidable batters, struck out twice against Sale. Only one Los Angeles player managed to reach scoring position all night. Yoshinobu Yamamoto pitched 6.1 innings for the visitors, but Drake Baldwin's first-pitch solo homer off a Yamamoto splitter proved decisive.
The sweep underscores where Atlanta stands as the season enters its final stretch. The Braves have taken three consecutive games from one of the sport's most consistently competitive franchises, each decided by the narrowest of margins.
Sale's performance adds fuel to what's shaping up as a compelling National League Cy Young conversation. His candidacy sits alongside Milwaukee's Jacob Misiorowski, whose own velocity has made headlines this season. For Atlanta fans and the broader baseball community, Sale's resurgence at 37 represents one of the sport's more compelling narratives—a pitcher told his best days were behind him, returning to form in ways few predicted.
The Braves stay home this weekend, opening a three-game series against the Colorado Rockies on Friday night.
