Chris Sale

Sale walked one and struck out four over four scoreless, no-hit innings during Tuesday's Grapefruit League game against the Twins.

Sale struck out four. He plunked a batter and walked another today, but he's yet to give up a hit in six innings this spring. He obviously didn't have any problem throwing to youngster Drake Baldwin today, either. Baldwin is likely to open the season behind the plate for Atlanta with Sean Murphy out.

Sale is entering his second year with the Braves after going 18-3 with a 2.38 ERA and 225 strikeouts last season

Sale gave up a couple of hard-hit balls on his slider, but he got through six Twins regulars without incident. His fastball velocity was down one mph from last year's average, but that's perfectly acceptable for a spring opener.

Braves left-hander Chris Sale just had a tremendous bounceback season. He made 29 starts with a 2.38 earned run average, earning a National League Cy Young award. He was largely injured and/or ineffective from 2019 to 2023, which had him pondering retirement. “I thought that it was gonna be my last year,” Sale said to…