Chris Sale pitches a complete-game shutout for the Atlanta Braves en route to a sweep over the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Despite Los Angeles Dodgers ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto delivering a quality outing on the mound, Atlanta Braves starter Chris Sale one-upped him with a complete-game shutout en route to a 1-0 series sweep over Los Angeles.
From the jump, Sale was efficient. Even more so, he touched 100 mph for the first time since 2018 and threw his first complete game since 2019.
Sale had a strikeout in every inning except the ninth inning. In the end, he struck out 11 on a season-high 109 pitches thrown.
The only source of offense from both sides came on the very first pitch that Yamamoto threw against leadoff batter Drake Baldwin. He crushed the right-hander's hanging splitter and sent it 402 feet to the Braves Chop House in right field.
"It was a neck-and-neck game. He’s a great pitcher," Yamamoto said via the Bleed Los Podcast on facing Sale. "I have to focus on my execution; however, the first pitch got away from me."
Yamamoto bounced back to clock in 6.1 innings and was removed from the game after walking his first batter with one out in the seventh. Jack Dreyer took over with runners on first and second and collected the final two outs of the frame with ease.
The scuffling Dodgers' offensive morale was not boosted due to Sale, but they did not help out their own case when opportunity arose. Los Angeles left seven men on base and went 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position.
Los Angeles recorded five hits in the loss. They got two hits from Mookie Betts, one from Freddie Freeman, one from Miguel Rojas, and the last hit from Ben Rortvedt.
The only extra-base hit for the Dodgers came from Betts as he led off the fourth inning with a double.
In the three-game set, the Dodgers' offense scored nine runs, with extra-base hits hard to come by.
With the loss, the Dodgers drop to 80-54, and suffer their second sweep of the month.
The Dodgers will send out the bulk of their starting rotation as they travel to play the Detroit Tigers for a three-game weekend set. Tarik Skubal will kick things off on Friday with a homecoming, facing his old club.
Blake Snell will follow through on Saturday, and with a decision still looming, there is a chance that Shohei Ohtani could make his return to the rubber on Sunday as an opener for Tyler Glasnow, depending on how his bullpen session goes on Friday.
