Powered by a three-run homer by Michael Harris II in the first inning and an electric four-out relief appearance on one day of rest by ace Chris Sale, the Atlanta Braves finished the Philadelphia Phillies 6-2 in the deciding Game 3 of the NL Wild Card Series on Thursday night at Truist Park. The Braves earned their first playoff series win against the Phillies and will face the Los Angeles Dodgers in the division series, which begins Saturday. Sale, coming off a strong Game 1 performance in which he had playoff career highs of 6⅓ innings and nine strikeouts Tuesday, came in to throw the last 1⅓ scoreless innings of Game 3 on his throw day.
Braves manager Walt Weiss said he woke up Thursday morning not expecting to have a conversation about Sale's Game 3 availability. Weiss said he and Sale then mapped out a plan. I told him there was a good chance he was going to get the top of the order at some point in the eighth or the ninth, he said.
It worked out that way. Was hoping he only had to go one, but he had to get to four outs. But what a warrior, man.
This guy -- I've run out of superlatives for Chris Sale. The crowd at Truist Park erupted when it was clear that Sale was walking out of the bullpen to face Phillies slugger Bryce Harper with two outs in the top of the eighth inning. Harris called the moment electric.
Sale recognized the temperature changing, too. It was incredible, Sale said. I've talked a lot about what this place means to me and how much I love pitching here at home.
Then, Sale felt the electricity, too: I felt like I took about two or three steps to get to the mound. As soon as I crossed that bullpen door, this place went crazy. I can't tell you how appreciative I am of that.
Sale's mentality was evident when he shot off the mound after getting Bryson Stott to hit a pop fly toward third baseman Austin Riley and almost beat him to the ball. I told [Riley] earlier that I almost called him off, Sale said, chuckling at the possibility of colliding with Riley, who outweighs Sale by 45 pounds. If me and him go toe-to-toe, I might lose that battle.
Alec Bohm led off the ninth with a single, but Sale went on to retire Stott, Bryan De La Cruz and pinch hitter Otto Kemp in order to cap a rare relief appearance. After throwing 95 pitches in Tuesday's Game 1 win, Sale threw 21 out of the bullpen Thursday night. Weiss said he wasn't sure if Sale would be able to start in Game 2 against the Dodgers on Sunday.
I have no idea, Weiss said. We weren't even worried about that. It's just put this thing down and then we'll have those conversations later.
But yeah, we haven't even talked about that. It was all about tonight. In addition to Sale's relief work, the Braves also got a surprisingly effective start from 32-year-old lefty Ray Kerr, who had made three career big league starts before taking the ball Thursday with the season on the line.
Weiss had contingencies if Kerr couldn't get through the Phillies' lineup once. That was a best-case scenario, and he did it, Weiss said. He got through the top twice, which kept us from using another guy at the top.
So Ray -- it all started with Ray. Everything fell into place because of Ray Kerr.
Source: ESPN MLB · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing