FORT MYERS, Fla. — Chris Sale faced 15 batters over four innings in a controlled minor league game Sunday, striking out five, walking one and surrendering one hit through the left side of the infield.
He threw 52 pitches, with a set total heading into each inning, starting with 15 in the first, 12 in the second and third, finishing with 13 in the last inning after refusing to come off before finishing off his last hitter, having already finished two innings off with [...]
FORT MYERS, Fla. — Chris Sale faced 15 batters over four innings in a controlled minor league game Sunday, striking out five, walking one and surrendering one hit through the left side of the infield.
He threw 52 pitches, with a set total heading into each inning, starting with 15 in the first, 12 in the second and third, finishing with 13 in the last inning after refusing to come off before finishing off his last hitter, having already finished two innings off with incomplete batters.
“Little bit different with the style, rolling over (hitters) and stuff like that,” Sale said. “But I know it’s all for the grand plan and being able to control the build-up a little bit. Any time I get on a mound I’m not there messing around. There’s no ‘oh this is just a side session’ or ‘this is just a live (batting practice) or whatever.' This is work to get better.
“Maybe adrenaline can take it a little bit higher. Obviously the energy of the ballpark can kind of raise it. Doesn’t make your effort go down. ... But yeah, there’s never a time you go out there lackadaisical and not thinking that this is going to be a step in the right direction towards getting better and getting prepared.”
Pitching in a controlled environment creates a different feel for pitchers in particular. Sometimes they’re limited to what pitches they can throw — though Sale was not on Sunday — and there are instances where the in-game scenario can change, which happened once in the fourth inning when Red Sox pitching coach Dana LeVangie placed a runner on second after Sale retired the first two hitters quickly.
“I wouldn’t say I got more out of this than a real game, because obviously there’s no replicating a real game,” Sale said. “But it is nice knowing, ‘hey, you’ve got 12 pitches this inning. You’re not going any less, you’re not going any more.’ And it’s nice to be like, ‘I gotta get this done in 12 pitches.’ There’s no messing around. You go 2-0 to a guy, (it’s) like, ‘all right, this next one has to be a strike.’ I do like that that game management a little bit more than just going out there flinging it in there and whatever happens, happens.”
There was a chance going into Sunday that Sale might face his new teammate J.D. Martinez. Instead the Sox decided to have Martinez, along with Hanley Ramirez, Sandy Leon and Eduardo Núñez, face minor league pitchers, starting with pitching prospect Jay Groome.
Sale wasn’t too disappointed with the decision.
“Yeah he hit that double off the wall and I was like, ‘hey, good call guys,’” Sale said. “Yeah, been there.”
Martinez devoted to defense
J.D. Martinez had his first live hitting session with the Red Sox, going 3-for-3 with a double, two singles, two RBI and three walks against minor league pitchers.
Though he spent more time discussing his defense after Sunday’s controlled minor league game.
“Everyone’s got this MO of me being a bad defender,” Martinez said. “You ask anybody that plays baseball, that knows baseball, they’re gonna say, ‘no he’s not a bad defender.’
“You can ask every coach form (Ron) Gardenhire, to Dave Clark to (Tony) La Russa, everybody that’s seen me play are like, ‘we don’t know why they say you’re a bad defender. I mean, it’s all the analytics. They have to, in my sense, fix the way they measure that stuff. Because maybe the way that do that sometimes is not as accurate as it’s supposed to be.”
He even went as far to say he gets more upset when he makes a mistake in the field than he does at the plate. Martinez expects to get in a game this upcoming week, though he’s not sure what day that will be yet. Whether or not he’ll play the field or just DH is yet to be determined, as well.
Sox drop slugfest
The Red Sox fell to the Baltimore Orioles, 10-8, at Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota, Fla., on Sunday afternoon. Each team collected 13 hits, with the Sox getting home runs from Andrew Benintendi and Rafael Devers. Jalen Beeks started the game for Boston, and allowed two runs on three hits over 2 1/3 innings. Andrew Faulkner picked up the win for the O’s. Boston’s next game is Tuesday afternoon against the Tampa Bay Rays.