Entering his start in Game 5 of the ALCS, Chris Sale arguably had the worst three-game stretch of his career.
Boston’s lefty ace struggled to make it out of the third inning in two of his previous three starts, and in the other, he only pitched one inning.
So, it was anyone’s guess what they’d get out of Sale. Red Sox manager Alex Cora just wanted one thing out of Sale.
“Just give us a chance to win,” Cora said. “The game was going to dictate how we managed it and the way he was throwing the ball, we felt very comfortable with him.