{"id":52261,"date":"2025-05-01T12:19:36","date_gmt":"2025-05-01T12:19:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=52261"},"modified":"2025-05-01T12:19:36","modified_gmt":"2025-05-01T12:19:36","slug":"braves-note-chris-sales-latest-start-against-rockies-had-one-glaring-problem-braves-cant-ignore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=52261","title":{"rendered":"BRAVES NOTE: Chris Sale\u2019s latest start against Rockies had one glaring problem Braves can\u2019t ignore"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_124,y_125,w_2999,h_1686\/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images\/GettyImages\/mmsport\/17\/01jt44nbmcz4x4qd1y4r.jpg\" alt=\"Atlanta Braves v Arizona Diamondbacks\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"article-content\">\n<p>The Atlanta Braves are already on thin ice when it comes to their rotation.<\/p>\n<p>We don&#8217;t know exactly when Spencer Strider is going to return from his hamstring injury and it will be months before Reynaldo Lopez even begins to start throwing again. On top of those struggles is the ongoing saga that is\u00a0Chris Sale.<\/p>\n<p>Sale has been very vocal in saying that his performance so far this season has not been up to his standards.<\/p>\n<p>The\u00a0reigning NL Cy Young winner\u00a0has struggled to avoid bats like he is used to and has\u00a0mechanical issues that have impacted both his velocity\u00a0and his ability to command all of his pitches.<\/p>\n<p>All of that has led up to Sale sporting a very not Sale-like 5.40 ERA heading into the Braves matchup against the Rockies on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\">While it looked like Sale had been making incremental progress lately in getting his issues worked out, his latest effort (and specifically his fastball velocity) against Colorado should have the Braves and their fans pretty concerned.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"inline-text-3\" class=\"scroll-mt-24 my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\">Chris Sale didn&#8217;t pitch badly against the Rockies, but his velo drop could signal trouble<\/h2>\n<p id=\"inline-text-4\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\">To be clear, Sale made what he had work pretty well and his start looks completely reasonable on paper.<\/p>\n<p class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\">His slider was still good and he threw it a LOT in order to get guys out.<\/p>\n<p class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\">This is also Coors Field we are talking about where the elevation and weather can make pitchers and their pitches act atypically.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\">However, after starting the game throwing 93-94 mph with his fastball, it dropped to around 91 by the second and third inning.<\/p>\n<p class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\">Sale would occasionally reach back for a little more than that, but it was mostly the low 90&#8217;s and he moved away from relying on his heater pretty quickly as his start wore on.<\/p>\n<p class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\">Brenton Doyle gave the Rockies the lead on a solo homer in the third inning on a 91 mph fastball on the inner third that looked like it had been served on a platter.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\">Things got even weirder late in the start when Sale was throwing almost all sliders with an occasional fastball (with good velo) thrown in every now and again.<\/p>\n<p class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\">Again, the slider was great and he used it to great effect, but Sale isn&#8217;t a guy that essentially completely abandons his fastball without a good reason.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\">Sale knows how to pitch well enough that even without his peak stuff, he is usually going to be able to find outs when he needs to.<\/p>\n<p class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\">However, at 36 years old and\u00a0coming off the back injury he dealt with\u00a0late last season, one wonders if we are witnessing a decline that could be a big problems for a Braves team that does not need any more bad news.<\/p>\n<div id=\"inarticle_d_1_6\" class=\"mm-slot-content\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Atlanta Braves are already on thin ice when it comes to their rotation. We don&#8217;t know exactly when Spencer Strider is going to return from his&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":52262,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>BRAVES NOTE: Chris Sale\u2019s latest start against Rockies had one glaring problem Braves can\u2019t ignore - NEWS USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=52261\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BRAVES NOTE: Chris Sale\u2019s latest start against Rockies had one glaring problem Braves can\u2019t ignore - NEWS USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Atlanta Braves are already on thin ice when it comes to their rotation. 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