Today's Three Things: Sale Silences Seattle's Stars in Braves Win

Chris Sale looks as good as he's ever looked in his second start off the injured list

The Atlanta Braves rallied late to take down the Seattle Mariners 4-1 in Truist Park on Friday night.

Here’s Today’s Three Things from the contest.

The Turning Point

The bottom of the 8th inning.

With Tyler Kinley having come in to pitch a perfect inning (extending his scoreless streak to twelve innings, the seventh-longest active streak in MLB), he was primed to vulture another win if Atlanta could get some runs on the board.

The top of the lineup understood the assignment.

Jurickson Profar opened the inning with what ended up being the definition of a hustle double - sending a ground ball back up the middle, he took advantage of a lackadaisical effort by Seattle’s outfield to make his way to second base.

It’s a good thing he did, because Matt Olson’s grounder off the mound and over the infield allowed him to score to take the lead, but he might not have been able to do that had he been on first. It turns out that he would have scored anyway, as Ozzie Albies’ third hit of the game was a triple off the right field wall. Albies then scored on a Drake Baldwin grounder through a drawn-in infield for the third run of the inning.

Today’s Player of the Game

Give me Profar.

Not only did he hit two doubles tonight, coming around to score both times, but he also made a few spectacular catches in the outfield. He had two shallow down the left field line, as well as one to his left.

(His catch in the 9th looked like a highlight play but really shouldn’t have been, owing to his poor jump that put him behind the eight ball on getting to the landing point of the ball.).

Profar’s hitting .306/.403/.629 with five homers, 16 runs, and 16 RBIs in his last fifteen games. I think it’s clear from how he’s performed this season that the 2024 season, a career-best for Profar in terms of production, was not a PED-fueled fluke but rather pretty legitimate. Adding that guy to the everyday lineup, combined with Ozzie’s resurgence in the second half, could boost the offensive ceiling of this lineup next season.

What You’ll Be Talking About

Chris Sale’s dominance.

The tall lefty went 6.2 innings tonight, striking out nine with no walks. He allowed just four hits and the one runner that scored did so thanks to the reliever that replaced Sale, fellow lefty Dylan Lee, allowing back-to-back two-out singles in the seventh inning.

Sale’s ERA is now down to 2.38 and it’s clear that he’s as good as he’s been all season. The lanky veteran had sixteen whiffs, eleven coming on his slider, and finished with a 40% CSW and only four hard-hit balls allowed.

Were Sale not to suffer a freak chest injury, one that came not from pitching but from when he dove to snag a 9th inning grounder against Washington in an attempt to pitch a complete game, he’d likely be right up there with Pittsburgh Pirates ace Paul Skenes in the Cy Young voting.

Looking for more discussion about this game?

Here’s tonight’s Postcast, with me and Locked On Braves host Jake Mastroianni, as we went live to break down the win/loss.

What’s Next for the Braves?

The Braves are back at it tomorrow evening at 7:15 PM. Hurston Waldrep (4-0, 1.01) takes on Bryce Miller (4-5, 5.71) as Atlanta attempts to win the series early.