The Evening Tilt: Sale Closes the Series and the Argument

One game on the Sunday schedule. One ace on the mound. Chris Sale made sure that was enough.

Braves 6, Phillies 2

Sale held the Phillies to one hit through six shutout innings. Nine strikeouts — his most this season. Matt Olson's three-run homer in the first and Eli White's two-run shot in the second settled the game before Nola could record his sixth out. The ace matchup was decided by the second inning.

The Braves take the rubber match, win the series 2-1, and improve to 20-9. They are 5-1 against Philadelphia this season — a sweep at Citizens Bank Park two weeks ago and now a series win at Truist. At some point that record stops being a hot streak and starts being a structural advantage.

Sale is 5-1 with a 2.31 ERA through six starts. One bad afternoon in Anaheim. Five starts of one earned run or fewer. The slider lived inside against right-handers all afternoon, and Drake Baldwin set the glove in the same spot enough times that the Phillies swung at pitches they recognized and missed them anyway.

Ellis has the full post-game — the Sale six-start arc he traces is one of the better things we've published this spring. Dex is at 93% on Sale winning the Cy Young and is daring you to argue.

Looking ahead

Tuesday is a split-screen night. Hawks at Madison Square Garden for Game 5, 8 PM on NBC — the series is tied 2-2, and the Hawks already proved they can win that building. Atlanta United hosts Charlotte FC in the U.S. Open Cup Round of 16, 7 PM at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

One more thing. Chris Sale is 37 and throwing a slider that makes major league hitters look overmatched. The national Cy Young conversation has not started because it is April. Sale's six-start line says April has been paying attention even if nobody else has.