Chris Sale strengthens All-Star position, masterful 3-1 victory for the Braves over the Giants

A year after the Atlanta Braves sent a franchise-record eight players to the All-Star Game, voters eliminated the Braves’ starting lineup.

However, that doesn’t mean the Braves won’t have a starter when play kicks off on Tuesday, July 16 in Arlington, Texas. Chris Sale has a good chance of becoming the National League’s starting pitcher.

Sale picked up his league-leading 11th win on Wednesday, striking out nine players as the Braves beat the San Francisco Giants 3-1.

“It’s great; I’m happy for him,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said after the game about Sale’s All-Star chances. “It was just really good. I can tell you, it was fun to watch him pitch and see how he goes about it. I don’t know if it can get much better than that. But honestly, he’s just been strong all year and one of the most competitive guys I’ve ever been around.”

After his performance against the Giants, Sale lowered his ERA to 2.71, putting him third in the league behind Ranger Suárez (2.27) and Cristopher Sánchez (2.41) of the Philadelphia Phillies.

Suárez is 10-2 this season, one win behind Sale’s 11-3 record, so he could be the favorite to start in the All-Star Game, but the Braves could be well represented.

Max Fried is fifth in the NL with a 2.91 ERA and a 7-3 record, and Reynaldo López’s 1.83 ERA leads the league as he consistently has enough innings to qualify for the all-time list. López has 83.2 innings pitched, Sale and Fried have 99.2 and 96.0, respectively.

Sale’s ability to consistently eat up innings with his starts is another advantage for Snitker.

“It’s great when they cover innings,” Snitker said. “It’s huge for everything that goes with it, so it was really good to have him out there today. He was on a run and threw the ball extremely hard. I’m just glad we scored a couple of runs for him.”

The Braves now have almost a full contingent of weapons, which gives Snitker more flexibility in games.

“It’s very manageable now,” Snitker said. “You get Mint back (pitcher AJ Minter) and now you suddenly have three mid-inning leaders and Iggy. You can really combine well when you have starters that cover most of the game.”

The Braves will play the decisive game of the series against the Giants on Thursday evening at 7:20 p.m. After the game there will be fireworks and a concert.