The Red Sox know who will be their Game 1 starter in the ALDS.
And yet, they don’t know which version of him they will be getting.
In his last tuneup for the matchup against either the Yankees or A’s, Chris Sale raised concerns with significantly lower velocity.
The hard-throwing left hander lived in the low-90s, hitting 94 mph just four times, in a 10-3 loss to Baltimore on Wednesday. Sale went 4 2/3 innings in which he struck out eight, allowing three runs, four hits and a walk in a 92-pitch effort.
Sale was not happy. Manager Alex Cora was discouraged. The Red Sox seem as concerned as a 107-win team, still with three regular-season games to play, can be.
“Obviously I’m not where I want to be,” Sale told reporters.
“Not great, we saw that,” Cora said.
Cora said after he yanked Sale, the AL’s top ace immediately went to the video room to try to identify what is wrong.
“It seems like there’s something mechanically going on,” Cora said. “He’s not flying his hips the way he usually does. We don’t have too much time, so he’ll work on it this weekend. Probably Monday he’ll throw an aggressive bullpen [session] and see where he’s at and go from there.”
This was Sale’s fourth start back from the disabled list, each one designed to rebuild his arm after missing time with left shoulder fatigue. He has been effective in his brief outings, but the 4 2/3 innings represented his longest so far.
“Hopefully he can fix it,” Cora said.
“This is what these starts have been for — building blocks,” Sale said. “I feel like I’ve gotten enough work in and gotten my pitch count up enough to where I’ll be ready for it.”
This sounds familiar. A season ago, it was Corey Kluber who was the superstar, wounded starter awaiting the Yankees. He won 18 games and led the AL with a 2.25 ERA, but his back flared up in the fall and the Yankees pounced on him for nine runs in 6 1/3 innings over two starts of the ALDS.
Of course, the Yankees would have to get past Oakland first. It appears J.A. Happ is the front-runner for the wild-card game, meaning that if it’s the Yankees whom Sale will await, it would likely either be Luis Severino or Masahiro Tanaka who would get the ball.
