Boston Red Sox ace Chris Sale will start Friday’s game against the Detroit Tigers after being activated from the 60-day injured list. It will be his first appearance since June 1.
Ian Browne of MLB.com noted that pitcher Brandon Walter was optioned to Triple-A Worcester to make room for Sale.
In 11 starts before he was sidelined with a shoulder issue, Sale held a 5-2 record and 4.58 ERA with 71 strikeouts in 59 innings.
Sale has been rehabbing a stress reaction in his shoulder blade during two starts with the Syracuse Mets.
Boston will hope those 6 1/3 scoreless innings prepared Sale to lead the Red Sox to a series-opening win tonight. Heading into Friday, the team sits 4.0 games back from an AL Wild Card spot.
Walter, a University of Delaware product, made his MLB debut June 22. Prior to being optioned, he made six appearances and recorded one save for the Red Sox, taking the mound most recently on July 23 in the eighth frame of a 6-1 win over the New York Mets.
Sale’s shoulder problems mark the continuation of poor injury luck that has limited the seven-time All-Star to just 22 starts over the past three seasons.
After 2020 and 2021 campaigns cut short by Tommy John surgery, Sale began the 2022 season on the injured list due to a rib fracture suffered during batting practice.
He returned to the lineup last season only to suffer a hit to the hand that fractured his pinkie finger. Then, he broke his wrist in a bicycle accident that necessitated season-ending surgery.
Those injuries have been bad news for both Sale and the Red Sox, who signed the pitcher to a five-year, $145 million extension in 2019. At the time, Sale was coming out of seven straight top-six finishes in Cy Young voting.
Sale’s output since then may not have been what the Red Sox were hoping for when they inked that deal, but he has the opportunity to provide a much-needed spark to Boston’s race to the playoffs tonight.
The Red Sox have gone 4-5 since the team decided not to make any major moves before August 1. Without any blockbuster trade acquisitions coming in to change the team’s outlook, Boston will hope Sale’s return can provide a similar boost.
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