MIAMI — The Atlanta Braves placed reigning National League Cy Young Award winner Chris Sale on the 15-day injured list Saturday because of a fracture in the left side of his rib cage.
“He was doing his exercises yesterday and felt like something wasn’t right,” Atlanta manager Brian Snitker said at LoanDepot Park on Saturday, before the Braves beat the Miami Marlins 7-0 to bounce back from Friday night’s 6-2 loss in the opener to the three-game series between NL East Division teams. “So they had him looked at, and it showed what it showed.”
In his previous start, a 5-0 home win against the New York Mets on Wednesday, Sale sprinted off the mound and made a diving stop of a grounder hit by Juan Soto and threw to first base for the first out in the ninth. He then struck out Pete Alonso and was lifted after allowing a single to Brandon Nimmo.
“It’s just a freak thing. An unfortunate thing,” Snitker said. “I saw him after the game that night, and he was doing his postgame workout. And then I saw him the next day, and I think he maybe felt a little uncomfortable the next day. But then yesterday is when he wanted to get it checked out.”
Sale is 5-4 and has a 2.52 ERA through 15 starts this season. The 36-year-old left-hander threw a season-high 116 pitches and 8 2/3 innings against the Mets, with Sale’s win coming in the middle matchup of three in a row against New York that put Atlanta on the positive side of a sweep for just the second time this season and the first time since mid-April.