Chris Sale tops 100 mph and throws complete-game shutout as Braves sweep defending champion Dodgers 1-0

Chris Sale reached again for 100.1 mph and went the space Thursday as Atlanta swept the back-to-back World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers, shutting them out 1–0 at Truist Park to finish a three-game collection.

Sale scattered 5 hits, struck out 11 and walked none on 109 pitches, MLB.com reported — his first complete-game shutout since 2019. When requested afterward how he was nonetheless touching triple digits at 37, he was temporary: “With my arm.”

The solely run got here on the sport’s very first pitch to a batter. Drake Baldwin lined Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s opening splitter into the right-field seats for a leadoff house run within the first inning. Yamamoto allowed simply that one run throughout 6⅓ innings whereas putting out eight, making for a pitcher’s duel that Sale settled alone.

The velocity was the headline. His 100.1-mph fastball to Shohei Ohtani within the third inning was Sale’s first studying above 100 since July 6, 2018, and solely the fifteenth time in his profession he had crossed that threshold. He adopted it with a 99.6-mph heater within the fifth; his ultimate pitch of the evening registered 98.6 mph. Ohtani went hitless in 4 at-bats with two strikeouts. “He’s probably the best I’ve ever seen,” Sale stated. “When you’re facing the best, you’ve got to bring the best.”

Before the ninth, Sale informed supervisor Walt Weiss he wasn’t popping out: “This is mine.”

The timing was sensible as a lot as aggressive — Atlanta’s bullpen was short-staffed coming into the sport. “Chris Sale knew we were really thin tonight in the bullpen,” Weiss informed Heavy. “So he puts the team on his back and throws a complete-game shutout against the World Champions.” He drew the historic framing: “I was talking about how the Hall of Famers are just different, and that’s a perfect example right there.”

Sale devoted the outing to a household pal who had lately died. “She was a huge Braves fan,” he stated. “I felt like I had a little something else helping me tonight.”

“The look in the eye is always pretty good,” Weiss stated. “But it was even a little bit different tonight. He was on a mission to finish it.”

The sweep carries fast standings weight. Atlanta moved to 79–55, pulling inside one sport of Los Angeles (80–54) within the race for an NL first-round bye. “You never think that scoring a run on the first pitch you see is going to hold up,” Weiss stated. “With Sale on the mound, it did. Just an unbelievable performance.”

Sale’s ERA dropped to 2.06 by 24 begins. He has posted a 1.45 ERA in house begins at Truist Park this season and is at the moment third in NL Cy Young Award voting, behind Jacob Misiorowski and Cristopher Sánchez. The shutout was the fourth of his profession.