Jack Flaherty

Chris Sale

My pitching heroes made a splendid return to their pitching rotations this weekend, both with at least five-inning wins in which they were in control the entire time.

“In control” might be an exaggeration for Chris Sale, as he allowed two home runs and threw a couple of pitches that could have gone to the backstop, except for the alert snags of Christian Vasquez, but he was unfazed and worked in his constant quick rhythm the entire six innings. He threw a lot of pitches, but he also struck out eight batters, which always requires a few extra pitches to accomplish.

John Flaherty, on the other hand, went six innings and showed pinpoint control, walking none and striking out five. He probably could have gone another inning for his ninth victory, but the Cardinals were understandably cautious with his oblique injury. How about nine wins at this point in the season after missing two months of it?

Sale’s return might be a little more momentous, since he had Tommy John (elbow) surgery two years ago. Elbows are more recoverable since the ground-breaking surgery of Tommy John in 1974. It is a tendon replacement known as ulnar collateral replacement. Sale’s performance indicated a full recovery. He averaged 93.3 mph on his fastball, virtually the same speed of his fastball in 2019.

The biggest concern following Tommy John surgery is not velocity, however. It’s control. Strike-throwing ability is usually the last thing to return post-elbow reconstruction, and, on Saturday, Sale threw 60 of 89 pitches for strikes, or 67.4 percent. Between that and the velocity, there were positive signs abound. https://pressfrom.info/us/news/sports/-788388-chris-sale-strikes-out-eight-in-season-debut-for-red-sox-and-first-mlb-start-in-two-years.html