NORTH PORT, Fla. — The Braves’ two pitching aces both got work in on Thursday at CoolToday Park.
Chris Sale and Spencer Strider combined to throw 5⅓ innings against the Blue Jays. Sale allowed one run over the game’s first three innings before Strider pitched a scoreless fourth, was pulled with one out in the fifth and then completed his outing with a perfect sixth.
In his second Grapefruit League appearance, Strider entered Thursday’s game in the fourth inning and got a fly out to right and a grounder to third before a three-pitch strikeout of Jonatan Clase. Strider went over 96 mph with his fastball that inning, a pitch he threw on 24 of his 48 offerings.
Strider got into trouble in the fifth when he issued a lead-off walk to Arjun Nimmala and then a hard-hit double to Sean Keys. Addison Barger then banged a 385-foot, two-run double to center that tied the score at 3-all.
“Very unique situation there where you’d go back out after sucking for an inning, get chance to compete again,” Strider said. “And I’m coming out of the pen, it’s a lot of different circumstances that I think you lean into it and you accept the challenge a little bit and it’s good for you this early in the season.
“Definitely didn’t execute everything that last inning, but felt like I made some more adjustments just to get a 1-2-3 inning after that second inning for me was good.”
Strider returned to pitch the top of the sixth and got two strikeouts sandwiched around a liner to right. He also threw 17 sliders, a pitch he said is slower to come around this time of year.
“My only goals today were to raise the intensity a little bit consistently, and then just compete pitch to pitch. Last week I felt like it made sense to just try to be in the strike zone, not really worry about anything else, and then start to compete a little bit more this time,” Strider added. “I felt like I had a little bit more behind the ball. Thought the shapes were a little inconsistent, fastballs including, from what I saw and just watching the hitters and stuff. Get in the zone a little bit more, probably make some different pitch-selection decisions in the season than we would today. But all in all, I think it’s a good step.”
Sale allowed five hits but only gave up one run. Thirty of his 50 pitches went for strikes during his third start of spring training which he followed by getting extra work in the bullpen.
“I think today was an easier day to kind of focus on just kind of what I needed to do with my lower half and just working on pitch shapes,” Sale said. “That first inning I threw a slider where it just kind of spun out, so really just kind of focusing on where I need to be and how to get there.”
The Blue Jays had the bases loaded in the third, but Sale induced a 4-6-3 double play. Three of the five hits Sale allowed came off the bat at less than 77 mph, including a cue-shot roller down the third-base line by Barger and an infield chopper off the bat of Tyler Heineman that went for an infield hit.
“I still like practicing, being intense and forcing myself to make pitches,” Sale said of dealing with traffic Thursday. “Bases loaded, there’s nowhere to put anybody, so you’re kind of forced to throw strikes. Even some of the hits, you got to deal with those kind of things.”
The Braves beat the Blue Jays 9-5 on Thursday, improving to 9-2 in Grapefruit League games. They travel to Fort Myers, Florida, on Friday to play the Twins.
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